Douglas Brin

"When an observer refers to any artwork as "interesting," this is the certifiable kiss-of-death. It denotes that the viewer either fails to comprehend its meaning or value, or worse, hates it."

This what Douglas Brin believes. [This is posted right above Gallery 307's guest and comment book (307 Seventh Ave, NYC) where Brin exhibit is on at present (February 11 - March 12, 2010).] What can be truer? In this world full of hyped gimmicks as art works, this artist brings refreshing vibes. I am sure no one wrote "interesting" as a comment about the show!

Splintered wood, hundreds of discarded museum buttons, the Sun Maid Girl and an obsession with all things George Harrison make the collages and constructions of artist Douglas Brin the kind of work you want to sit with for a while.

Reminiscent certainly of Joseph Cornell or Kurt Schwitters the “things, the “stuff”, the “bits and pieces” Brin incorporates into his boxes and constructions can’t help but take you from the piece, to the “stuff” and your own memory of it (is that an old Breyers ice cream sign?). Then inevitably we are drawn back again... and again to the beauty and elegance of the work-sometimes spare, sometimes so impenetrable that to stand before it for more than a minute becomes an exercise in resolve.

The palest perfect blue, the untouchable journal that means more than its thousands of words and drawings and Brin’s 30 year excavation of his life allow us the opportunity to think for a few minutes about the “stuff” of our own lives and what we might make of it.