Brian Adam Douglas


Brian Adam Douglas is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose practices include monumental woodcuts, stencils, large scale drawings and collage. Douglas executes street art under the name "Elbow-Toe". His improvisational roots developed working in the streets have carried over into his gallery work.

Early life and education

Douglas was born in Garland, Texas and was raised in Plano, Texas. At eighteen he moved to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts where he graduated in 1994.

Career

Street art

Douglas’ work first came to the public's attention through his street art—wheat-pasted collages and chalk drawings made under the name Elbow-Toe. The moniker came about after a night of drinking and talking about other street artists and a quick sketch of an elbow with a toe on the subway ride home. As his street art evolved from simple character designs to more complex collages and linocuts, Douglas began to draw the attention of the gallery world, and group shows in London, Los Angeles and New York soon followed.

Cut Paper Paintings

Beginning in 2007, Douglas began exhibiting works made entirely out of paper. He refers to his process as paper paintings rather than as collage. "I see each piece of paper as a brushstroke rather than as a juxtaposed idea." The cut paper paintings developed out of a desire to produce work for the street that would be easier to produce, but over time the process became much more labor-intensive, with most pieces taking between three and six months to produce.

Interactive Art

Beginning in 2015, Douglas began programming interactive artworks in Javascript and HTML5, and he began releasing them in 2016 on the website http://www.ENDGAMESinteractive.com. The premier release was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Subsequent interactives released through Endgames will concentrate on the psychological distresses that leave many of us feeling isolated. “I want my players to leave the artworks stressed and feeling like they can’t win so they keep trying, even though they are designed by their very nature to lose,” he said.

Exhibitions