When it comes to fish, Doug Donley can't help himself

WHO: Doug Donley

WHAT: Estuary

WHERE: Art Gallery of Algoma

WHEN: January 4 to 27, 2007 - reception January 11 at 7:30 p.m.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT: In 1990 I started working on fish drawings almost exclusively.

The fish took over.

They spoke of art history, they spoke of ecology, they amused me and often showed me what was going on in the world.

Here in this show you can see most of what makes up the fish series, here things are concentrated as in an arm of the sea, as in an estuary.

The drawings here are unframed in consideration of available space and financial restraints; this allows an intimacy with the paper, a temporary situation for this exhibit.

An artist who deals with themes that are not current in a medium that is often over-looked, in an untrendy region, is still an artist.

An artist who exhibits when and wherever possible and exhibits every second or third year, if he is lucky, is still an artist.

I am such an artist.

I work in industry (machining) two days a week to keep a roof over my table.

My muse is personal, self-contained and awkward to articulate.

"I do what I do" is what I want to say.

I make these images because I can't help myself.

There are reasons and understandings to be had but would you ask a tree to explain why? I am an organic product too, bent by nature and twisted with time.

There is just the question to be asked, are my drawings value added or a by-product?