DOUGLAS A. KARSON
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Bio

Douglas Karson is an American-born artist living and working in Bristol. Self-taught, his practice incorporates storytelling, poetry and ink on paper with a particular focus on painting. Bold colour, geometry and a sensitivity to line and balance characterise his paintings, which are informed by personal and spiritual philosophies. His ongoing series THE RULES uses elements from Greco-Roman and Chinese mythology, Yogic theory and Hindi philosophy to formulate a process of painting-as-manifesto, or manifesto-as-painting. A rigid formal framework and methodology engenders dozens of potential outcomes, each a cross-cultural message suffused with subtle politics. 

Douglas believes passionately in creating and nurturing artist communities. He founded Art Battle UK, a live painting event that brings artists and art lovers together in a unique environment, breaking art out of its sanctioned and sanitised “white cube” contexts. Douglas has participated in and organised over 30 group and solo exhibitions across the UK and the United States, and his work has been featured in magazines such as Art Reveal and Creativ Paper.

Exhibitions
Publications
Awards

Art HOLE Magazine - June 2020 
Featured Artist

The RULES Exhibition - Solo Show
26th Jan - 28th Feb 2020 
Bristol, UK

West Bristol Arts Trail - Oct 18th,19th 2019
Bristol, 2019

A5 Magazine: Feature, Issue no. 22, 
Jan 2019

WotisArt magazine: Feature, Issue no. 22, Jan 2019

Clifton Open Exhibition 
August 2018. Clifton Art Club, Bristol, UK

10 Year Retrospective Group Show Selection
June 2018. Hamilton House, Bristol, UK

Creativ Paper Magazine: Douglas Karson, Feature, Issue No. 009 Vol 1, pg 46 - April 2018

Art Reveal Magazine: Douglas Karson, interview,  no.36, January 2018, pg 54; ISBN 9781388973230 
​

The Canteen - Artist of the Month 
February 2018 
Hamilton House, Bristol, UK

Average Art Magazine: Featured Artist
November 2017

Artfinder.com Online Gallery: 
Featured Art of the Day
August 2017 

Spike Island Newsletter: 
Featured artist 
August 2017

The ONE2 festival 
Co-Founder, Organiser, Exhibiting Artist
May 2017. Hackney, London

The Art Pop Up:  
10 day Solo Exhibition
October 2016 
Blackfriars, London

Travelled, worked and studied abroad (including a year living in Japan) 2015-2016

Lululemon Yoga Brand UK Showroom: 
Art and Yoga Solo exhibition 2011-2014. Covent Garden, London

Time to Art 
London 2014


Paintings and Fun
London 2013

Philadelphia Art Cafe
Philadelphia 2009

Jefferey's Meat Market, New York, NY
2007
​
New York - Union Square Artist
New York, NY, USA 2006-2008

Producer Work

Art Battle Bristol - December 2017 - March 2020
Bristol Founder, Producer, Host/MC   
+  Engaging with local Bristol arts community
+  Mastering budgeting, pay, invoicing, long term scheduling and logistics
+  Directing volunteers, artists and freelancers from various disciplines to create a safe and memorable audience experience

Self Employed - July 2016 - Present
London and Bristol Yoga Teacher and Artist
+  Manifesting solo and group art exhibitions and experiences, published painter with regular sales, published poet, selected for various painting competitions
+  Teaching regular yoga classes in Bristol
+  Actively connecting with more than 6,000 social media followers

ONE2 festival - October 2016 - May 2017
London Founder, Producer, Host
+  Bringing vision and energy to all marketing material and distribution
​+  Dynamic planning and engaging with performances, burlesque, workshops, bold experimentation, music, dance, theatre, comedy, painting, and community engagement

The ART Pop-Up - July 2016
London, Blackfriars. Owner/Artist
+ Pop-Up art exhibition near the Tate modern to share new work produced while in Japan
+ 40 original artwork sales over 10 day period

Education

University of New Hampshire August 2002 – May 2006     
Durham, NH, USA   
B.A. Political Science and Philosophy w/ Hons

French Culinary Institute August 2008 – February 2009
New York, NY, USA
​Grand Diploma de Patisserie w/ Hons
Professional Memberships
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  • HOME
  • ART
    • EMOJIS
    • The RULES ART
    • Portraits
    • Original Inks
    • OLDER WORKS >
      • abstract
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • yoga works
      • london collection (2010-2015)
      • earlier works
      • privately owned
  • POETRY
  • INFO
  • SHOP
  • Keep ART It
  • CONTACT