If you’ve been walking around New York City, chances are you have seen Doug Groupp’s artwork.
Groupp is a street artist who has transitioned to fine arts and whether you’re looking at a wall along Second Avenue or in a gallery on Orchard Street the artwork of the artist also known as Clown Soldier may be present.
As a child, his interest in art was noted by his mother who, when he was twelve, took him for private art lessons where he learned about the basics of drawing from life as well as different techniques such as chiaroscuro and developed skills from studying the masters. Developing quickly, he used these skills as his interests branched into design, print making, collage and mixed media where, at times he created minimal pieces with only two images that used open and white and negative space to help define the images and their relationships.
It was around 2007 when Groupp began to bring his art to the streets of New York. He had sublet a studio space shared with other artists, many of whom were street artists, and through these connections he began to learn how to take what he had been doing on paper and bring it to brick and concrete. An example of this work can be seen in his piece Pagliacci. What appears to be the simple portrait of a clown left on a golden door is a modern rendering of the tragic clown Pagliacci, connected thematically to characters such as Pierrot and his roguish partner Harlequin.
Reminiscent of Cezanne and Picasso, this clown, usually sad when filling the archetypal role is reinvented by Groupp to stand confidently with the oversized cowl, the pointed hat and slight mischievous smile to complete the image of conviction. The clown has become an enduring symbol of Groupp’s presence on the streets of New York. Though Pagliacci is not the stamp of Groupp’s street aesthetic which has been painted in many locations in the many different neighborhoods of NYC, it is a wonderful representation of his street identity.
Most street art must be simple in order to be put up quickly so the artist can get away before being seen.
Around 2011, according to Groupp, street art started to become popular. Galleries were reaching out to street artists to exhibit their work. Groupp was contacted by galleries and curators which led to his showing in places like Van Der Plas Gallery where street artists such as Al Diaz had crossed into fine art exhibitions, becoming gallery and exhibition regulars.
In the wave of this new popularity, Groupp’s work came to the forefront and began showing an evolution. One can see how in pieces such as Success Kit, that uses a collage format, Groupp was moving away from the minimal but still retained aspects of it, using the space in between the images and objects to set simple definitions that broaden the entirety of the work and retain the pace of the eye calmly as it moves across the field of bright, warm colors, kept in balance by a white background. A scattered field of shapes not only never loses control but does quite the opposite by moving the viewer easily around the work with a tone of pleasant invitation that offers a sense of serenity.
To further his working aesthetic, Groupp brought his skill in design and printmaking to his fine art, developing images that break definitive bounds. Never one to shy away from using what was around, at hand, or on direct view from the advertising billboard or the TV, Groupp brought to life larger pieces blown up, and expanded with the richness of his illustrative and painting skill.
Popped Balloon is a strong example of where Groupp’s explorations have brought him. An altered Felix the cat image dominates the center of the piece seemingly conjoined as a twin and both bodies topped with four eyes a piece. The added eyes and the lines around them give the feeling of movement more than disfigurement.
Groupp’s “Felix” may not actually be an eight eyed twin of itself but one Felix simultaneously moving back and forth as he shakes his head side to side and nods up and down. Either understanding works. A grotesque reinterpretation of a classic cartoon image or the stuttering high energy movements of a cartoon cat that can’t sit still.
Most street art must be simple, to be put up quickly so the artist can get away before being seen. This simplicity, at the root of Groupp. Popped Balloon with the paint, spray-paint and a layered composition bring the sum of the work to the act of viewing it as though it had just been taken from the wall off a street of New York with a ripe and startling result. The rich blue of the piece helps cool the image as it works against the warm red and orange shapes and letters. A contrast is created that steadies the eye so that the movement of the central figure does not fight with its surroundings or overwhelm but is brought easily to the forefront without stealing focus from the entire effect.
Doug Groupp, aka Clown Soldier, is traveling a long and interesting path. An early childhood of exposure to the arts and rendering set the ground work for a development in collage and design that translated almost seamlessly to the streets of New York, to where quick action paintings of fervent engaging images developed an ability to immediately create balance with form and color and still have room to present the fun of pop or the depth of more broad themes that scale beyond category to where the viewer now standing in a gallery can see Groupp’s work as a pathway to what has yet to be explored. G&S
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