When Doug Argue stirs an oceanic vista, likening a school of fish to the world swirling outside his studio window, he taps a great art historical tradition: metamorphosis.
-Charles A. Riley II, PhD
Director, Nassau County Museum of Art
PIERMARQ* is pleased to present ‘There is No Happiness Like Mine’ an exhibition of new work by American artist, Doug Argue. This is Argue’s second exhibition with PIERMARQ* in Sydney.
Exploring metaphysical concepts through layers of representation and abstraction, Argue’s new body of work draws upon schools of fish and swarms of butterflies as representations of the sublime multiplicity and harmony in nature. Monumental in scale and mesmerizing in composition and variation, themes of repetition and transformation invite the viewer to become lost in the illusion of infinity.
The exhibition consists of 11 new works of oil on linen and canvas. Argue is regarded for his skilled brushwork and cerebral layers and patterning, combining precision with painterly gesture. Interweaving narratives and allegory, Argue’s motif of fish and butterflies build upon the artist’s consistent thematic emphasis on the flux of life, suggesting the passage of time, and how the past informs the present.
Doug Argue's work resides in major public, private and corporate collections including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Walker Art Center and the Weisman Art Museum. In 2023, the Weisman Museum will present a major retrospective of Argue’s oeuvre.
