Doug’s sculptures communicate themes and concepts that emanate from the synergy of artistic and scientific creativity. Through artistic operations of abstraction and transformation, he crafts Space Age materials into objects that speak to us about the existence of spiritual realms. Doug conjures metaphors of high ideals and spiritual journeys.
One of Doug’s favorite Space Age materials is “diffraction grating film”. It is a hologram of a rainbow, imprinted on Mylar film, and backed with vapor-deposited aluminum. When stretched and adhered to surfaces, the film acts like an iridescent mirror, reflecting images of intense color. The viewer’s motion in front of Doug’s mirrors activates a phenomenal shift in prismatic color by varying the angle from which the work is viewed.
Choreographed by the moving body, unexpected dynamic allegiances emerge from the interaction between the color-shifting mirror and the constructed field. According to Doug, this phenomenon of spectral transformation suggests an opening to a spiritual world or a crossover to a parallel universe. Doug enjoys working with aircraft aluminum and unusual alloys. When sculpting with Space Age tools and materials, he feels that he is somehow closer to the mysteries of the Universe, and a very large scale of events.