This content was published: February 23, 2012. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Arcy Douglass: Ten Thousand Things
Sylvania North View Gallery
- Dates: February 23 – March 23, 2012
- Hours: 9am-5pm, Monday – Friday
- Reception: Thursday February 23, 2-4pm and Saturday, March 10, 12-4pm in the gallery
Arcy Douglass’s Ten Thousand Things uses the repetition of a simple formal vocabulary to reflect the complex structure of natural systems. Resembling the depth and expanse of the starlit sky or the gridded streetlights of an urban metropolis, Ten Thousand Things presents a field of lit points perpetually emerging into and escaping from our vision.
Arcy Douglass earned a degree in architecture from the University of Southern California in 2007 and attended the Arts Student League in New York from 1999-2000. He is a regular Contributor to PORT, a Portland, Oregon based art blog. Arcy is currently based in Portland, Oregon.
Dance Students Perform
Complimenting the exhibition, PCC dance students under the direction of instructor Heidi Diaz performed improvisational responses to Arcy’s installation.
- Tuesday, February 28 from 2-3:20pm
- Thursday, March 1 from 2-3:20pm
- Tuesday, March 6 from 12:30-3:20pm
- Thursday, March 8 from 12:30-3pm
Artist’s Statement
My work is about achieving the maximum amount of complexity with the simplest set of conditions. Art making for me is an exploration of how I can tap into some of the unexpected beauty I see in nature. I realized that remaking or copying the things I loved in nature was not going to solve the problem I set for myself. Rather than imitating nature, I worked for a long time to try and understand if there were ways to use the generative aspects of nature to make art. I wanted to explore if there were lessons in nature that I could use to make my own work. Over time, the process of generating the work has become more subtle and complex which has led me to insights that bring me closer to the complexity often found in nature. The goal of my work is to create an open-ended experience that connects the viewers back to the world around them in a new way.