| 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 decided he wanted to be an artist and immediately began painting at the age of 8, and has never had any misgivings about his decision to follow the artistic path. He 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. He has had many group and solo exhibitions in Australia, including for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival (1994, 1995, 1997, 2003 & 2005) and an exhibition for Sydney’s cultural festival for the 2002 Gay Games. His international solo exhibitions include shows in France, USA, Thailand, Malaysia and China. He is an internationally published writer of fiction and non-fiction. He has been a regular cartoonist and writer for several publications. His photography encompasses a broad spectrum of styles and themes, including for newspapers and magazines around the world, and for corporate clients. Douglas worked as the Visual Arts Director for the Queer As Fuck Arts Festival, 1999. Douglas has campaigned as an advocate for the rights of people with HIV as well as disadvantaged children. He successfully lobbied to improve training of NSW Police in matters related to HIV-positive people, and has held exhibitions and raised money to support and promote the needs of children in Africa orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. 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. In 2004 he was invited as Artist in Residence to conduct painting workshops at Lockhart River Aboriginal Community, Cape York, Australia. His films have featured in international film festivals. In 2010 Douglas won the International Outrate Short Film Festival for his film 'Ward 9', a film about life in an HIV ward, and was given an Inspiration Award for his photograph 'Imagine' for World Peace Day in the USA. His film Twelve Black Horses screened internationally for the Digital Fringe Festival, 2010. He is taking part in the "Peace Rises" group exhibition touring the USA through October and November 2011 to celebrate World peace day and to raise funds to provide crutches for victims of war in Sierra Leone. In November a selection of his Twelve Black Horse paintings and the short film "In The Park" were shown at the International Outsiders Festival and Outsiders Short Film Festival in Adelaide, Australia. He has recently completed a feature-length film "Sex Club", a collaboration with Strykermeyer; and a short film about the life of Australian bush- ranger Captain Moonlite, based on his set of 54 Captain Moonlite paintings. "Captain Moonlite" will premiere at the IDAHO exhibition in Sydney, in early 2012. In January 2012 Douglas has a group exhibition in New York, USA. February 2012 will see the launch of his "Nine Lives" exhibition in Sydney, Australia - a show with Loui Jover and Donna Malone. The 1st anniversary issue of Noisy Rain (January/February 2012) features a pictorial of John Douglas's Captain Moonlite paintings. |