David Douglas has been creating art for over thirty years. He lives with his wife and two children at Episcopal High School, a boarding school in Alexandria, Virginia, where he teaches painting, drawing, and photography. He received his B.A. in painting from Virginia Intermont College in 1981 and his M.F.A. in painting from James Madison University in 1984.

His work has been exhibited since 1980 in major galleries nationally and he is represented in many private at pubic collection including the Virginia Museum in Richmond Virginia. Lee Fleming of The Washington Post wrote in 1994 that his work represents, “a hyper-real universe where floors and walls radiate with jewel-like intensity and doors in rough industrial spaces give abruptly onto pastoral scenes.” Anne Behrens of The Washington Post noted, “His spatial compositions are visual feasts that lead the eye in and out of doors to observe strange scenes. Douglas’ ability to portray people in imaginary spots and place them throughout interior and exterior environments creates a powerful collection of works.”

Marvin Tadlock, the chairman of the art department at Virginia Intermont College, commented, “I have never worked with anyone who could take a work so close to chaos, and then, with complete confidence, breathe renewed, fresh, and exciting life into it. David’s paintings are always fresh, vibrant, innovative – they go only where he knows to take them.”

In 1999, Douglas traveled to Spain for his first international exhibition.

He “creates a magical world,” said Jesus Mazariegos, critic for the El Notre de Castilla.  “Everything moves between realistic and imaginary planes, reminding us of lives and dreams.  His images convey the paradoxical emotions of sadness and optimism.  Frequently, his interior spaces capture a magical time, often drawing on the light of a storm, or the beautiful light of dawn or twilight. This light has the patina of the memory he visually narrates. The content of the atmospheres created by Douglas are varied, but coherent. In the works of David Douglas there is a silent solidarity reminiscent of the work of Edward Hopper, and at times the relationships of objects and the spaces remind us of the magic of Magritte.”

In 2001, Douglas was included in “The ‘Pencil of Nature’ In Our Digital Age: Photo-imagery in Recent Art” at School 33, curated by Virginia Adams. This exhibition explores artists who are making art using photography not as a documentary tool, but in a variety of other ways. Mike Juliana writes in the Baltimore City Paper, “One of the most interesting aspects of this group show is that some of its participants explore how we look for meaning within an image, as well as how that image connects to another. This is hardly a new pursuit, as one is reminded by looking at the digitally manipulated images that make up David Douglas’ ‘Drink Up.’ The repeated black-and-white shots of a water-filled glass evoke scientifically oriented studies. Similarly, the 19^th- century photographer Eadweard Muybridge’s motion studies are recalled in Douglas ’ repeated shots of a running cat.  What’s notable about the cat within the overall composition is that the shadow-casting presence is digitally controlled in way that would have been foreign to Muybridge’s point-and-shoot manner. Douglas’ composition also includes a tile floor and other architectural spaces that are the result of digitally defined space (rather than “documentary”) space. One of the best recent exhibits at the School 33.”

In 2005 Douglas was included in “Art on the Digital Edge.” This show at the Academy Art Museum in Maryland included works by Chuck Close, Jon Isherwood, Amy Lamb and William Newman. Organized by guest curator Susan Hamilton, the computer art-themed survey wisely features work that plays both into and against our expectations of art utilizing high-tech tools.

During the summer Douglas instructs art teachers on how and why technology can be an important part of any fine arts curriculum.  This program, funded through a grant from the Ford Foundation, exposes teachers, many for the first time, to the endless possibilities of a digital lab integrated into the more traditional art environment.  

In addition to teaching, David Douglas has been a member of the design team that developed the plans for the new $10 million arts facility at Episcopal High School.  After years of planning, the fully integrated digital arts facility was opened in September 2003.

In 2005 Jery Cullum of the Atlanta Journal Constitution writes that David Douglas recent works at the Aliya Linstrum Gallery including “Backyard on Beverly is a typically haunting and haunted photograph”. These large scale 40 x 60 inch photographs have a timeworn look for another reason.  Once the images have been output digitally, Douglas antiques them by extreme measures, including (according to the artist) running over them with a truck when appropriate. “The scuffs and scratches are as thought out as the composite image itself, and became part of the overall sense of a dream world in which spontaneous actions turn into symbols. He achieves a subtle sense of “Long ago and far away” by selecting bits of imagery that reinforce the feeling that one is viewing an illustration for some allegorical tale of innocence or loss.”  The layers of imagery are constructed in a fashion that reflects the sense of balance and texture that Douglas acquired as a painter.

In the spring of 2006 Douglas showed the first pieces from his series “The Africa Works.”  These large scale works tell the story of David’s relationship with Gift a teenage boy from Zimbabwe. Curator Frank Phillips writes. The first thing you notice when you walk in the Angie Newman Johnson Gallery is that the work radiates. Mounted directly to the wall surface, these glowing images pulse, and pull the viewer to enter their heroic environments.  Totally different than a picture in a frame, these images feel like the walls were cut open in perfect rectangles, revealing a different universe.  The works tempt the viewers’ idea of reality.  You literally want to touch the pieces to make sure it’s only a picture.  And at times, you teeter between passive viewing and actively entering the massive landscapes.

            The Zimbabwe people and surroundings had a profound effect on David.  He crafted each piece from photographic images he shot while on his trip.  The wealth of imagery packs each work in a way that describes not one moment, but an overall experience.  In selecting specific pieces, we struggled to pair this exhibition from about 30 to just ten – a difficult task, when you consider that each composition tirelessly strives to tell David’s own life story in epic fashion. 

Each work represents a connection (or composite of connections) to life in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and life in Alexandria, USA.  None more accurately expresses this than Portrait of Scout in an African Landscape.  Although David’s daughter, Scout, did not make the actual trip to Africa, she is as connected to Gift as anyone.  Like siblings, they have shared the common experience of life under one roof, but they’ve also shared the Episcopal experience: all its opportunities, pressures, restrictions, disappointments and accolades.  In this portrait, David juxtaposes Scout (an icon of his work for 18 years) against the grizzled terrain of the Matopos Hills.  You witness a young girl in a pretty white dress; she’s set slightly aloft in a vast raw space.  The scarred surface jars the senses as you ponder themes of innocence, danger, and loss.  Considering that this is the artist’s daughter, you have to reconcile your notion of parenthood… how you hang as tightly as you possibly can, and then how you reluctantly (and slowly) have to let go.

This exhibition received many positive reviews including a piece by John McCaslin  “Gift of Africa:” in The Washington Times. Douglas’ most recent project brings him to the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  These large scale pieces explore the unique beauty and haunting landscape of this special place. This latest work has been exhibited in major galleries in Atlanta Georgia, Nashville Tennessee and Alexandria Virginia.