| John Douglas is an award-winning Australian multimedia artist whose exhibitions have received acclaim and caused controversy both in his home country and internationally. He began painting at the age of 8, and studied at the Queensland College of Art until his expulsion in 1984 for being a “disruptive and disturbing influence”, after which his career really took off. Solo shows include the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1994, 1995, 1997, 2003 & 2005; an exhibit for the Sydney 2002 Gay Games Cultural Festival; and one-man exhibitions in Paris, Bangkok, Istanbul, Shanghai, Bali, Ethiopia, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau and Fort Lauderdale, USA. He is also an internationally published writer of fiction and non-fiction. He has been a regular cartoonist, writer and photographed/designed covers for Talkabout magazine; guest cartoonist for Last magazine in Australia, and has been published in two US fiction anthologies. His photography encompasses a broad spectrum of styles and themes, including Australian newspaper and magazines such as Black & White and Vacations & Travel; photography for magazines and newspapers in Thailand, Denmark, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, China, Qatar, Hong Kong and Japan. From March 2004 to December 2005, he was the photographer for writer Robert La Bua's 89 weekly 'Wellbeing' columns which appeared in SXNews (New South Wales), and is a regular photographer for articles in Blaze (South Australia), OutinPerth (West Australia), BNews (Victoria and Tasmania) and Newsmix (Sweden). Corporate photography clients include Finnesse Communications, Australia; Le Meridien Hotel, She Shan, China; Australian Airlines and the Japan National Tourist Organization, Japan. In 1999, Douglas worked as the Visual Arts Director for the Queer As Fuck Arts Festival. Douglas has worked as an advocate for the rights of people with HIV as well as disadvantaged children. He successfully campaigned in 1996 to improve training of NSW Police in matters related to HIV- positive people. In 1997, he worked to raise money in support of the creation of permaculture vegetable gardens to benefit Ugandan orphans. He has been a Teaching Consultant in Art Therapy at Glenside Psychiatric Hospital, Adelaide, Australia and now conducts specialty self-expression art workshops around the world. His website designs include the ‘Why I Hate John Howard’ site (2000), a memorial site for Seattle conceptual artist Chad Witt (2001) and a website for two-time winner of The Australian Book Of The Year award, author Victor Barker (2002). In 2004 he was invited as Artist in Residence to conduct a painting workshop at Lockhart River Aboriginal Community, Cape York, Australia. Also in 2004 his painting series Bordello was displayed in The People's Square, Shanghai; he was commissioned to photograph the events of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo; and he ended the year capturing images of the midnight sun over Antarctica on New Year's Eve. His paintings were chosen for The Perfect Diary (Australia & New Zealand) for 2004 and 2005. “Clarke Island” exhibition of drawings completed a world tour in 2005, encompassing showings in Denpasar, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Bahar Dar, Macau and Palm Cove. His film “Project One” had its debut screening at the Brisbane Queer Film Festival in April 2006. “A Home Exorcism” was short-listed in the 2007 Tropfest Film Festival. “Entr’Acte” screened at the 2009 Squatfest Film Festival, and film “Thank You For Not Singing” showed in the Melbourne Digital Film Festival in Australia. A group show featuring his sketchbook toured the Arthouse Gallery, Atlanta; Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington; Chris’ Jazz Café, Philadelphia; Laconia Gallery, Boston; Antena Gallery, Chicago; Soulard Art Market, St Louis; 3rd Ward, Brooklyn; Museum of Design, Atlanta; Chicago Art Source Gallery, Chicago; USA, throughout 2009. In November/December 2009 Douglas’s art was shown in the LA Center For Digital Art in Los Angeles, USA, and Tap Gallery in Sydney, Australia. Currently he is working on several film and music projects and preparing for an exhibition at the Brooklyn Art Library for April 2010. Reviews, Articles & Interviews |