Doug Fuller, Found Object Artist
I was advised of Mr. Fuller via a fellow referee who said, “hey, there’s a Great Falls referee/mentor who is an artist too, do you know him?” and so launched a working relationship that involves wonderful conversations about art and soccer refereeing. And kids and dogs. In August of this year, he was part of a show at the Fred Schnider Gallery of Art in Arlington, which was covered by the Washington Post wherein he was compared to Robert Rauschenburg with his “burly 3D combines.” Rauschenburg huh? Not bad company to be in.
Mr. Fuller’s works were on view at Wolfgang and Luke until October 29, and can now be seen at The Old Brogue/Katie’s Coffee until Jan 2025.
ABOUT DOUG FULLER…in his words from his website www.rustdoug.com
It all started with a crankshaft.
Almost 20 years ago, while working at my design firm, I found myself drawn one day to a beautifully sculptured, rusted crankshaft discarded behind our building. Soon, I was collecting rusted metal of all sizes, particularly pieces that resembled letters of the alphabet. I have always prided myself in being able to appreciate the unusual or absurd and finding beauty in cast-off objects seemed to suit me well.
After years of “rust harvesting,” my collection of rusted metal and other found objects finally started to find themselves being combined into sculptural objects or scanned on a flatbed scanner to produce abstract works of what I hope might be considered “art.” I particularly enjoy taking something small and seemingly insignificant and presenting it in a new way to find the hidden textures, thereby giving it new meaning and significance. If my work can also produce a smile or a puzzled look from a viewer, then all the better.
Being a designer and art director requires me to be good at finding and combining the right parts to make a design attractive or useful. My rust art is no different: I didn’t create the original pieces, I just found them and put them together to create a work greater (I hope!) than the sum of its parts.
When I’m not endangering my family by forcing them to live amongst piles of rusted metal and decaying wood, I’m a full-time graphic designer and weekend soccer referee (but I’m pretty much always hiking in my head).
EXHIBITIONS
March, 2009 / Artery717 / Alexandria, VA / Private Arts: A Designer’s Art Exhibition (Juried show)
May, 2011 / Adam Lister Gallery / Fairfax, VA / Private Arts: A Designer’s Art Exhibition (Juried show)
February, 2020 / Del Ray Artisans / Alexandria, VA / Condo vs. Chaos (Juried show)
March, 2020 / Del Ray Artisans / Alexandria, VA / Tell Me a Story (Juried show)
