Doug Webb, American (1946 - )
Doug Webb was born in 1946 in Instanbul, Turkey. Known for his fantastical paintings that depict transformations of cityscapes and public architectural spaces, Doug Webb has explained that the strength of his work “lies in the recognition of opposites—the humdrumness of urban living with the dream of utopia based in nature.”
Although he works in a hyper/photorealistic style, He considers himself a classical romantic surrealist, juxtaposing Magritte like oversized objects, within scenes, to create meaningful metaphors. His influences, which have shaped his work over the past several decades, are Magritte, Dali, Bosch, the Pop art movement, the Photorealist movement, and most recently, Gerome.
Webb has also said that his pictures blend “threads of satire, irony, conflict and hope,” themes apparent in works like Lost and Found(2009), where New York’s famous Times Square in shown bathed in sunlight—upon closer inspection, a door in the sky reveals itself.