Doug Edge is the Old Man of the Sea (Venice), with lots of messages in many different bottles.

–Robbie Conal

Painting in the 21st century in my opinion has two main criteria that dovetail into each other: the visualdialogue that has been going on between artists continuously since the cave paintings, and the pure magic and richness of paint handling on a two dimensional plane. . . This is the most challenging art form I have ever come across and I will continue to paint and participate in this dialogue.

—Doug Edge

25 July 2008, Santa Monica—Track 16 Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new paintings by Doug Edge. The exhibition will be on view from September 6 through October 4, 2008 with an opening reception on Saturday, September 6 from 6 to 9 P.M. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 AM to 6 PM.

Since the 1960s, Doug Edge has been innovative in his use of media—plastic, resin, wood, glass, and steel—while maintaining a conceptual yet socio-political approach to his work. Author Michele De Angelus describes Edge as “a man who intuitively understands the nature of each respective medium, its inherent properties, and so fully and passionately rejoices in and celebrates the inherent possibility of each.” Though he is best known for his sculptures, Edge is equally evocative in his most recent paintings. 

Using a vocabulary of archetypical symbols, repetitive shapes, a cache of figures, and a cool palette, Edge sublimely eases the viewer into a relaxed yet vulnerable position in which a shapes are invested with meaning: Head-like, TV-like, Elephantine, Cartoonish. As Philip Guston pointed out regarding his own use of images: “I’m puzzled all the time by representation or not, the literal image and the nonobjective. There’s no such thing as nonobjective art. Everything has an object, has a figure. The question is what kind?”Like Guston, Edge’s painting gestures are pared down and create a sensation of freedom. 

Edge lives and works in Venice, CA, and his work feels distinctly Southern Californian, similar to the way in which Brian Wilson’s harmonic progressions transport one to a mythical Californian beach paradise. Doug Edge has exhibited extensively both locally and internationally, and is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, and Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA, among others. Concurrently on view are Kate Harding: WhiskeyCreek, and Bob Biggs: OPP–ARoadmaptoNowhere