Doughlas Remy

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Doughlas Remy

• The Art of Assemblage

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There are tremendous tensions in my work, as if I
were trying to find a comfortable place to
inhabit between control and spontaneity, between
symmetry and disorder, or between the synthetic
and the organic. These are of course highly
abstract terms, and my work is, correspondingly,
almost always highly abstract. My dilemma in
trying to decide whether to call a finished work
Ossurarium (boneyard) or Carnival, shows how
much polyvalence there can be in a single work.
But more often this polyvalence only emerges over
a series of works. Some of them are unambiguously
joyous, while others are dark and brooding, or,
at the very least, dreamy, as my name suggests
(D. Remy).
Bound, 22.5"H x 20"W, 800
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I enjoy collecting and assembling small objects
as common as washers and napkin rings or as
precious as polished stones. I love browsing
through resale shops, yard sales, and industrial
surplus. Whenever I purchase some little object
of modest beauty, my impulse is to play with it
and to manipulate it so that it interacts with
other small objects of modest beauty. This may be
the same impulse that compels a small boy to play
with action figures. An assemblage is a
congregation of these objects, and it can
stageor framea compact, finite world governed
by harmony, order, and control, or by discord,
disorder, and spontaneity. An assemblage, like
any set of play figures, can have a wonderful
plasticity of expression in which objects and
shapes play off each other to create caverns,
protrusions, pools, barriers, and a host of other
topographical features.
Again, my assemblages are highly abstract. They
almost never include representations of human or
animal figures, and only by an effort of the
imagination can one even discern anything
suggestive of identifiable plant forms. These
works are always about interactions and
juxtapositions. Objects reflect, echo, or
reinforce each other. Larger ones may exert a
gravitational pull on the smaller ones. There are
clusters, nodes, and planetary systems, and the
forces at work are the forces of the
universeattraction, repulsion, consolidation,
expansion, obstruction, and progression.
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A word about evolving technique When I first
began creating assemblages, about seven years
ago, the components that I chose for the works
were, for the most part, manufactured
objectsshot glasses, Allen wrenches, belt
buckles, test tubes, washers, and the like.
Furthermore, these components, with the exception
of stained glass, were non-art objects,
remarkable only for their ordinariness. From the
beginning, I used epoxy resin to bind and to coat
these objects, and this part of the process has
not changed. However, I have recently learned to
work with hydrocal (plaster) and to fuse glass. I
have also mastered a few techniques of
woodworking. My most recent works consist almost
entirely of glass (stained and sometimes fused),
plaster, wood, and, of course, resin. The shift
from using manufactured objects to crafting my
own objects has been a move away from classic
assemblage and toward what one might call,
simply, mixed-media art.
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Noite Amazona is very representative of my
current style, which uses a narrower range of
colors and materials to express the teeming
multiplicities that have always inhabited my
artwork. The title is Portuguese and means
Amazonian night. To create the colorful
foreground shapes, I poured hydrocal over various
objects, such as pleated lampshades, and set
other objects into the hydrocal from above. I
then used a bandsaw and a spindle sander to
fashion the individual pieces, and I dipped them
in aniline dyes. I fused pieces of black and
white glass to form the eyes. The dark
background is very rich, though this photo
doesnt reveal it very well. It contains tumbled
chunks of crystal, tumbled garnets for which I
prospected in Eastern Washington, and fused
glass, including dichroic glass. Epoxy resin
coats and binds the various elements. I made the
wood frame in my shop. The wood is Jatoba (also
called Brazilian Cherry), and this is its natural
color. Only oil has been applied.
Noite amazona (2005), 42W x 36H, 2800
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This assemblage belongs to a sub-set of my work
that I would describe as organic, insofar as it
suggests natural rather than man-made forms. This
piece was inspired by Seattle Operas recent
production of Florencia in the Amazons. The
blue-green forms are made of hydrocal, and the
tendrils are fused glass and wood.
Florencia in the Amazons (2005), 42W x 36H,
3500
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I have always been in awe of (traditional)
cathedral architecture, and I conceived this work
as an homage to the mystery and wonder of their
vast, rich, and colorful interior spaces.
Esprits (French for spirits) clearly suggests
the cosmos and all things transcendent, but
beyond that, nothing is clear, except perhaps
that it is a very spiritual piece. The viewer
can enjoy musing over its meanings. The artist is
not giving anything away. The materials used in
the piece are hydrocal, fused glass, metal, wood,
and resin.
Esprits, (2005), 37W x 36H, 2800
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Like several other works completed only recently,
Multitude evolved over the course of several
years. It was originally laid out on a grid,
whose traces can still be seen in the more or
less regular arrangement of elements. It is
radically more colorful and vibrant than the
underlying work, however. The works lack of
negative space is perhaps part of its allure.
It is crowded, teeming, and even a little
menacing. The fused-glass eyes give it a
certain edginess, which some viewers may find
engaging and others aggressive. The materials
used in the piece are hydrocal, fused glass,
metal and resin.
Multitude (2005) , 23W x 27H, 1800
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When I completed this piece and sat contemplating
it, I was overcome by a hankering for some
tropical fruit. So I enjoyed a bowl of fruit and
titled the piece Avopapamango. Like the other
works in this subset, Avopapamango is very
organic in its colors and its curvilinear
forms. It is composed of hydrocal, fused glass,
and resin.
Avopapamango (2005), 16.75"W x 21.5"H, 750
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Like several other works begun years ago and
completed only recently, Scary Mary expresses
the edgier quality of my current style. The
plaster and glass wedges crowd the space and
press against the frame, creating a sense of
urgency and even of disorder. This work was
originally much calmer and was titled
accordingly. I changed its name to Scary Mary.
The name Mary name rhymes with scary, of
course, but it also helps soften the scary
part. The components of this piece are hydrocal,
fused glass, and resin.
Scary Mary (2005), 21"W x 28"H. 1200
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This is another work that I started nearly five
years ago. It has been through several
incarnations. It is an extremely rich piecenot
for every taste. For me, it suggests almost
revoltingly sweet things to eat, like candy
swimming in cream. Hence, the fanciful name,
drawn from three European languages, Bonbons mit
krema. The ingredients are hydrocal, glass,
crystal, metal, and fused glass.
Bonbons mit krema (2005), 20"W x 26"H. 1200
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Bacchanal is a big celebratory work, very
colorful and free-form, with shapes that suggest
balloons and streamers. Materials include metal,
wood, glass, and epoxy. The more-or-less round
elements in the composition are discarded wooden
bowls that I shaped with a bandsaw and a spindle
sander before applying paint. I constructed the
frame in my workshop. Its top, at 2 deep,
expands to 3 at the base.
Bacchanal (2004), 37"W x 42"H, 2800
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Channel, with its strong lateral symmetry, is
composed almost entirely of art glasssome
stained, and some clear but highly textured. The
two foreground panels, with their lighter colors,
frame the deeper, richer colors of the channel
that runs between them. The six glass squares on
the panels are alligator glass.
Channel (2002), 18W x 24H,, 750
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Belle Epoque, the French name for the
turn-of-the-century era in France (end of the
19th century), has a light and frothy look
suggestive of sumptuous surroundings, mirrors,
champagne, and perhaps the music of Jacques
Offenbach. The piece has a very strong center
with lateraland nearly radialsymmetry of
compositional elements. The materials are metal,
glass, and resin.
Belle Epoque (2003), 18W x 24H,, 580
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This highly abstract and polyvalent work stirs
the imagination. Selecting a title for it was
challenging. Ossurarium is a Latin word meaning
boneyard. The piece is not as somber as its
name suggests, however. Some of the forms in the
foreground suggest carnival masks. The cobalt
blues, reds, and turquoises of the background
enliven and enrich the palette.
Ossurarium (2005), 36W x 36H, 2800
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This is the only one of my works that contains
the representation of a human figure. The face in
the inner frame is that of a Greek Hoplite
warrior, but I named the piece after Hippolytus,
the son of Theseus, who first lost control of his
passions by pursuing his fathers new wife,
Phaedra, and then lost control of his horses as
he drove his chariot off a cliff. Compositionally,
the piece was a joy to create. Lots of objects,
such as the frames, the rondels, and the steel
hooks, became available at just the right time.
The v-brackets attached to the frame are made of
heavy-gauge steel.
Hippolyte (2004), 36W x 36H, 3500
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Compositionally, this work is extravagant, but
its almost dynamo-like energy is held in balance
by the strong horizontal and vertical framing of
the central axis. Materials Stained glass,
metal, industrial surplus, resin.
Safe Harbor (2002), 25.5W x 37H, 2500
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This is a study in radial symmetry. However, the
symmetry is only partial. Close inspection
reveals randomness and irregularity everywhere.
Nevertheless, this work partakes of the great
universal tradition of mandalas, whose only
constant feature is their radial
symmetry. Materials are wood, glass, metal, and
resin. The title, Eclat, is French for Burst.
Eclat (2004), 21 diameter, 1500
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Hextrusions is a classic assemblage in the
sense that it contains only manufactured objects.
These objects, which include industrial parts,
resale-shop jewelry, and molded glass, are
tightly assembled into the hexagonal frame to
form a mandala. The apparent radial symmetry of
the piece is only approximate. Note, for example,
that the four silver flowers placed next to four
contiguous sides are not replicated along the
fifth and sixth sides. This work,
unapologetically, has no negative space.
Hextrusions (2003), 24W x 28H, 1400
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Rosaire-diamant (French) means
Rosary-diamond, after the two dominant shapes
of the piece. Like Hextrusions, this is classic
assemblage in that it consists almost entirely of
manufactured non-art materials. The delicate
pastelsblue in the upper half and pink and
yellow in the lowercontrast with the hard and
utilitarian qualities of several of the major
components of the workthe Allen wrenches, the
gas meter parts (around the diamond), and the
gears (scattered throughout the piece). Even
industrial materials can reincarnate as precious,
frothy, and even frivolous.
Rosaire-diamant (2004), 18W x 30H, 1400
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Ive included this work because it is
representative of one the ways that I work. I
began it several years ago and exhibited it
several times before deciding to revisit and
revise it. This show and tweak process was
repeated several more times until the piece
achieved its present form. In this case, the most
recent tweaking was in fact a substantial
remake. One reason I called the piece Pierre
et Jacques was in remembrance of a couple of
college friendsbrotherswhose names were Pierre
and Jacques. The other reason was that there is a
jack in the lower center, and it is surrounded
by stones. Stone, in French, is pierre. The
materials used in the piece are fused glass,
stained glass, plaster, metal, and resin.
Pierre et Jacques (2005), 23W x 27H, 1400
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There are always tensions in my work, as if I
were trying to find a comfortable place to
inhabit between control and spontaneity, between
symmetry and disorder, or between the synthetic
and the organic. Bound holds these tensions in
place, but with difficulty. The hydrocal and
glass forms swell and leave their flotsam around
the edges of the frame, and the composition seems
about ready to morph into something different at
any moment. The foreground components of this
piece are hydrocal, fused glass, garnets, and
resin. In the background are heavily oxidized
metal (painted), gauze, stained glass, and beads.
Bound (2005),20W x 22.5"H x 3D, 800