The Artist

Doug Frye

Acrylic on Wood Panel Cutouts

Art is about observation, transformation, storytelling, creation. I have enjoyed these aspects of painting. Then came along another idea: GO WILD! So please enjoy my two-year journey to create a series of cutouts of “wild” animals. Allow your imagination to go wild with the stories these images conjure up.

A few years back I became aware of Stephen Smith Gallery in Topeka, Kansas. I found their presentation of art outstanding. I wanted to connect deeply to the lively and unusual pieces found inside. Stephen’s wife, Edie, introduced the art with knowledge and enthusiasm, serving up explanations of the connection between the paintings and each artist. Such an enjoyable art experience. More like a museum with a personal guide through a maze of well displayed pieces.

I thought to myself; this would be a wonderful venue to show my cutout paintings.

Two years ago, I had the honor to be chosen as one of the artists to illustrate the Topeka Parks project. I was thrilled when Stephen Smith Gallery became the site of the show. It was blessed with a large crowd, TV cameras, SOLD paintings. A resounding success.

I had the chance to get to know the Smiths and their appreciation of unique art, often not typical of Topeka galleries. A glass of wine never hurts, and I introduced the first of a new cutout series I had just begun that focused on the interaction between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom. That painting is “(rhinoceros) by the tail.” I was glad to see that Stephen was enjoying both the sense of humor along with the irony of a human hand pulling on the big rhino’s tail. He seemed inspired and showed me a photo of elephants sleeping taken from above. They were tightly cuddled together like pieces of a puzzle. I had no idea that elephants slept on their sides. Even more enticing was the spark of an image to tell a story of elephants.

And thus began my year of creating fifteen images that I feel suit the “GO WILD!!” theme.

Cutout paintings use the whole wall as their frame and create a 3-dimensional sensation.

For “GO WILD!”, I put colors on the edges to create a visual tension that entices the observer to move back and forth creating a 4th dimensional sensation of time.

I hope you have as much fun watching them as I did create them.