In 1984, at the age of 22 years old, Doug Argue premiered in the Twin Cities art scene, with larger-than-life paintings and a compact studio apartment too small to hold them all. Fresh off the college boat, Argue went from graduating at the University of Minnesota to nabbing a solo exhibition gig at the Walker Art Center just a year later in 1985, curated by Elizabeth Armstrong.
Nearly 40 years later, Armstrong and Argue have assembled to work together once more, Armstrong acting as curator for Argue’s newest cultivated collection in the metro area, “Doug Argue: Letters to the Future.”
Currently on display for free viewing at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, the exhibit allows its attendees to see Argue’s artistic journey in retrospect, and the evolution and refinement of his craft over the years.
Argue’s artistic reserve is a constant metamorphosis, with his painting’s shapes, sizes, themes evolving as he travels down life’s path. In the years shortly following Argue’s 1985 Walker exhibit, he released a collection of pieces inspired by his newfound fatherhood. The exhibit featured works that were toned down both in size and intensity, focused on the theme of childlike curiosity about the world.
Argue’s magnum opus, however, came in the mid-1990s, in the form of chickens. The untitled painting, released in 1994, depicts hundreds of chickens in a factory farm, roosted in small cages as far as the eye can see.
The painting has adorned the walls of art galleries from America to Armenia, but has finally returned home to Minneapolis at the Weisman, alongside more recently made Argue originals. The exhibit is open until September 10. For more information about the exhibit, visit wam.umn.edu.
