Elsa Åkesson in Conversation with Artist, Doug Meyer

Doug Meyer, a multimedia artist based in New York, has spent the past year 2020 working on a new series of works during the pandemic lock down, a combination of sculptures, collages, paintings that tell a story of a utopian world in the near distant future of 2037.

In this interview, Doug Meyer speaks to Elsa Åkesson about his upbringing and how it influenced him to become an artist, his practice and different artistic inspirations, as well as his new show Wyldlands at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York.

*Source: Photo Mark Roskams courtesy Daniel Cooney Fine Art*

Elsa Åkesson: Could you tell us a little bit about your upbringing and how it lead you to begin your journey as an artist?

Doug Meyer: I am originally from Kentucky. My older brother moved to New York when I was around 13 or 14 and my parents had a house in Long Island, so we would be in New York all the time. I always knew I was going to move to New York. I applied to art schools in New York and originally got a scholarship from Pratt, but preferred being in Manhattan, so I went to Parsons and studied Fine Art.

Over the course of my career, I undertook many different jobs. I designed site specific installations and interiors. My brother and I joined forces around 20 years ago to design licensing home products, such as fabrics, lightings, wallpapers, rugs and furniture, which I continue to do until this day. I also love magazines, I was the design editor for the Miami Herald Home & Design Magazine, and a City Editor for Metropolitan Home, I was also the Editor in Chief of a magazine my family started in Kentucky that was a ‘Town and Country’ magazine. It was about 10 years ago that I started getting back to doing my art, which I now try to do as full time as possible.

When I was a kid my parents built me a studio in the basement, so after school I would always be creating something. For a while I was really into silk screen, I would also draw, paint, and make sculptures. So I have always been creating, it’s what makes me happy.

EÅ: Do you have a preferred medium, if so, why?

DM: That is a very difficult question because I love mixing mediums. I love drawing, painting, and making sculptures. There is not one that I love more than the other.

I like to create these ‘worlds’, and these worlds have a narrative. It is like creating a movie. So there are all these various elements to it, whether I am combining graphic design, painting, sculpture, photography or writing along with it.

EÅ: What would you say your main influence is, in your art?

DM: I am influenced by so many things on a daily basis. I find instagram a great learning tool because there are so many great artists and designers that you would never have known about if it weren’t for that. You go from one thing you’ve never seen before to another which leaves you amazed and you start doing more research.

I guess the things that influence me the most are the things I have never seen before. An example is travelling to a new place.

With everything you discover, you end up having all these files in your head and you just never know when you are going to need them or what will trigger them to come back.

When I am creating, I am very intuitive. A particular thing may come up in my head reminding me of something, which may lead me to stop working and research what I had just been reminded of, and then go back to what I am doing.

History to me is also very important, seeing and understanding where things actually came from.

EÅ: Are there any particular artists that inspire your work practice?

DM: There are so many artists that I love. Naming a couple would do a disservice because I am influenced by so many different people and things. In my studio I have a wall covered with inspiration and imagery that I like, so if I am bored or seeking inspiration I would stare at this wall.

The artists I would look at depends on what I am working on, however I would say colour combinations is what I am drawn to; it is what I respond to the most.

EÅ: Could you tell us about one of your biggest achievements so far as an artist that you are most proud of?

DM: I would have to look at the present because I don’t like going back in the past, which takes me to my current show ‘Wyldlands’ shown here in New York at Daniel Cooney Fine Art.

I started working on this body of work 2 days after lock down, and the show opened on March 13th. It was almost an entire year of working on this project, creating the catalogue, the narrative, the sculptures and the material.

What I love about this show is that it is one body of work that encompasses all my skill sets into one larger body of work.

EÅ: Could you tell us a little bit more about your current exhibition ‘Wyldlands’ at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York?

DM: When you walk into the show there is this kind of wall, that has the entire narrative written on it. The idea is that when someone walks in, you are confronted with this wall of writing, which indicates you should read the narrative before discovering the exhibition further.

The whole story and exhibition ‘Wyldlands’ takes place in the year 2037, the location is Sonoran Desert in Arizona. (This is the second project that I have done taking place in the future, all the other ones take place in the past).

It is not just the narrative and story that is written, I create support material such as souvenirs and photographs of the places or people that created the story. People become very disorientated, because they think it is real, which is what I want them to think.

As you are walking through the exhibition after you read the first narrative there are cases that contain all this support material, in this case ‘future relics’ being magazines, books, stamps, invitations, wine bottles from the Wyldlands winery, a perfumery and posters from the ‘Wyldland film festival’. It becomes this whole experience of wondering through this world.

My husband helped me write the narrative of the story, and the idea was to create something that is very possible and could actually happen. When we were writing this, it was changing on a daily basis because in the States we have something called ‘Breaking News’ every hour, and it was just one insane thing after another. We really wanted it to be a continuity with what is currently going on, especially with the pandemic and politically, as to what could happen in the near future, 16 years from now.

The story follows 16 years until you get to 2037 and you are then at ‘Wyldlands’.

It is a whole immersive exhibition, so one of the fun thing to see is peoples reaction to it. I get a sense of relief and gratitude when I seeing that people are enjoying it.

It has gotten some really great feedback, and outlets such as the New York Times and Cultured have really embraced the show.

EÅ: Do you have any other upcoming exhibitions we should keep an eye out for?

DM: Daniel Cooney Fine Art will be giving me the whole booth at the Art on Paper Fair (September 9-12, downtown Manhattan, pier 36) in New York. It will be a body of work that consists of a combination of drawing and collage with resin called ‘Lost Paradise - Randomness’ and will be accompanied by a catalog.

Thank you very much for your time and we look forward to discovering your new show in September!

You can discover Doug Meyer’s works on:

https://www.danielcooneyfineart.com/artists/doug-meyer

Instagram: doug__meyer

Current show: danielcooneyfineart.com

Elsa Åkesson,

Online Editor-In-Chief , MADE IN BED

Elsa Åkesson in Conversation with Artist, Doug Meyer

Emma Grayson in Conversation with The Hole NYC Founder, Kathy Grayson

Carlisle Berkley in Conversation with Artist, Adia Millett

HOME