Artist Statement
Douglas Hartley is a North Carolina–based visual artist whose work blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture. In his recent Acrylic Cubes series, Hartley layers oil-based pigments within transparent acrylic forms, creating luminous, three-dimensional compositions that seem to hover in midair. He calls this approach —a dialogue between transparent motion, stillness, control, and chance. A process Hartley likes to call "Suspended Animation", allowing color to exist in a dimensional solid state. Hartley’s practice also extends into earlier bodies of work that continue to inform his current direction. One such piece is a geometric outdoor sculpture, composed of a tall, curved panel of glass embedded with repeating circular and linear patterns, shifting blue and green tones. Approximately 4 feet tall, Installed within a natural garden. The glass sculpture acts as a vertical “color beacon,” reflecting his long-standing interest in how pattern, light, and environment shape perception. Its presence in the landscape shows Hartley’s early focus on harmony between organic surroundings and constructed form. Some of Hartley's older works consist of oil and acrylic paintings on canvas dating back to the Late 1980's. Hartley’s curiosity extends beyond art: he is also the inventor of the patented solar energy device that embodies his exploration of light as both medium and metaphor. Solar Rhyno, Patent Number 5,427,628. Hartley’s practice has evolved into a study of how light inhabits color and how perception shifts with depth. He invites viewers to look not just at art, but through it. —
www.DouglasHartley.com
www.Facebook.com/Douglas.Hartley.332
Douglas Hartley is a North Carolina–based visual artist whose work blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture. In his recent Acrylic Cubes series, Hartley layers oil-based pigments within transparent acrylic forms, creating luminous, three-dimensional compositions that seem to hover in midair. He calls this approach —a dialogue between transparent motion, stillness, control, and chance. A process Hartley likes to call "Suspended Animation", allowing color to exist in a dimensional solid state. Hartley’s practice also extends into earlier bodies of work that continue to inform his current direction. One such piece is a geometric outdoor sculpture, composed of a tall, curved panel of glass embedded with repeating circular and linear patterns, shifting blue and green tones. Approximately 4 feet tall, Installed within a natural garden. The glass sculpture acts as a vertical “color beacon,” reflecting his long-standing interest in how pattern, light, and environment shape perception. Its presence in the landscape shows Hartley’s early focus on harmony between organic surroundings and constructed form. Some of Hartley's older works consist of oil and acrylic paintings on canvas dating back to the Late 1980's. Hartley’s curiosity extends beyond art: he is also the inventor of the patented solar energy device that embodies his exploration of light as both medium and metaphor. Solar Rhyno, Patent Number 5,427,628. Hartley’s practice has evolved into a study of how light inhabits color and how perception shifts with depth. He invites viewers to look not just at art, but through it. —
www.DouglasHartley.com
www.Facebook.com/Douglas.Hartley.332
