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Man siger ansigtet er sjælens spejl – på godt og ondt.
Den tanke bygger den engelske kultmaler Douglas Mcdougall videre på, ved at
skære ind til benet bag menneskets facade. Helt derind hvor smerten udpensles
og alle illusioner hører op. Minutiøst undersøger han ansigtets mange udtryk med kul
og skalpel, så værkerne opnår fotorealistisk perfektion.
Douglas Mcdougall hæfter sig ved gadens ultimative outsidere og 'typer', der befinder
sig på bunden af det sociale rangstige og som normalt ikke får taletid i samfundet
eller inden fo populærkulturen. Han registrerer dem med sit kamera og derefter går
den videnskabelige undersøgelse i gang, som kan tage op til flere måneder
at færdiggøre. Kunstneren fortolker sit fotografi til kultegning og bearbejder ansigtets
karakter og konturer ved at skrabe og ridse ned i overfladen med forskellige
skarpe redskaber.
Douglas Mcdougall er kendt for at presse sit materiale til det absolut yderste
og bearbejder ansigtet som et landskab, der rummer historie, tekstur og nostalgi.
" This work is all about the flesh within the flesh, real life.
I can stare at a white wall and see the patterns of my own life trying to find solace, I stare at anothers skin and see an abstract terminology of life, a tactile form or moment; within this context bares the symbol of solitude that dictates my vocation, this personal diary of souls, faces, the diary of my days bringing the flesh onto paper".
-D.McDougall.
Douglas McDougall is a geographer of the human face and psyche. He meticulously records the features, crags and crevices of his subjects who, in his most recent series, "CitizenScapes", appear to be at the extreme edges of life. The ultimate outsiders.
Although his working methods display a cool, almost forensic objectivity as he maps out the hard won peaks and troughs of human experience, the result encourages understanding, compassion and perhaps even affection towards people we might otherwise avoid.
He endows them with a kind of beauty. It is clear that McDougall has a deep empathy with his subjects to the extent that in some senses these might be seen as self portraits or more particularly portraits of the "Self", and he invites us to react to them with a similar subjectivity.
The framing of the work plays an important part in how these images are seen.
McDougall captures and encloses his subjects like exhibits in a museum of human experience. This powerful and extraordinary work reminds us of the potency of the figurative image in its ability to show us who we really are, body and soul."
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