Douglas Arthur Peter Field (6 August 1945 – 7 March 2021
Duggiefields.com), known as Duggie Fields, was a British artist who resided in Earls Court, London.

Early life

Fields was born in

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. His parents were Henry Field and his wife Edna (née Rosenthal). He grew up in the garrison town of Tidworth where his father owned a pharmacy, and later in

Borehamwood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly know ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. He first came to notice in 1958, when he was 14, in the Summer Exhibition at the Bladon Gallery, Hurstbourne Tarrant, while he was attending the nearby Andover Grammar School. Fields briefly studied architecture at

Regent Street Polytechnic The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

before studying at the Chelsea School of Art for four years from 1964. He left with a scholarship that took him on his first visit to the United States, in 1968.

Career

As a student, Fields' work progressed through minimal, conceptual and constructivist phases to a more hard-edged post-Pop figuration. His main influences were at that time

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...

, Mondrian and comic books, with a special regard for those worked on by

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

. In 1968, Fields went to live in Earl's Court Square and shared a flat with

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

, who had just left

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

. Fields continued to rent the flat and work in Barrett's former room, using it as his painting studio and remodelling the visual appearance of the property in his personal style. By the middle of the 1970s, his work included many elements that were later defined as

Post-modernist Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the worl ...

. In one painting,

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

is shown with her head severed. In 1983, Fields was invited to Tokyo by the Shiseido Corporation, where a gallery was created to show his paintings. For the occasion, the artist and his work were featured in a television, magazine, billboard and subway advertising campaign throughout Japan. In 2002, he designed a poster for

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

. In 2013, he was taken to Los Angeles by artist and benefactor Amanda Eliasch with fashion designer Pam Hogg for Opfashart, which Eliasch had put together for "Britweek". From 2013 to 2015, Fields worked for the preservation of

Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue in London, England. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, original ...

– designed in the 1930s by Howard Crane – and the surrounding area. The campaign was not successful but made people aware of the general decline of architecture in London. In 2016, Fields was celebrated by the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

FLARE with a collection of his videos. The

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

in London holds two portraits of Fields, by photographers David Gwinnutt and Chris Garnham. Fields also composed and recorded music which he accompanied with spoken word performances.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1971: Hamet Gallery, London * 1972: Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford * 1975: Kinsman-Morrison Gallery, London * 1979: Kyle Gallery, London * 1980: Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Midland Group, Nottingham; New 57 Gallery, Edinburgh; Roundhouse Gallery, London * 1982: Spacex Gallery, Exeter; B2 Gallery, London * 1983: Shiseido Exhibition, Tokyo * 1987: Albemarle Gallery, London * 1991: Rempire Gallery, New York * 2000: Random Retrospective, DuggieFields.com * 2008: Shifting Perspectives, Galleri Gl. Lejre, Denmark The

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

and

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

have examples of Fields' paintings in their collections.Duggie Fields paintings
Artuk.org. Retrieved 1 October 2013.

Selected group exhibitions

* 1976: New London in New York, Hal Bromm Gallery, New York * 1979: The Figurative Show, Nicola Jacobs Gallery, London; Masks, The Ebury Gallery, London; Culture Shock, The Midland Group, Nottingham; Art and Artifice, B2 Gallery, London * 1983: Taste, Victoria and Albert Museum, London * 1984: The Male Nude, Homeworks Gallery, London * 1985: Image-Codes, Art about Fashion, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; VisualAid, Royal Academy, London * 1986: The Embellishment of the Statue of Liberty, Cooper Hewitt Museum/Barney's, New York * 1987: Twenty Artists Twenty Techniques, Albemarle Gallery, London * 1989: Fashion and Surrealism, Victoria and Albert Museum, London * 1988: Het Mannelisknaakt, Gallery Bruns, Amsterdam, St. Judes Gallery, London * 1990: Universal Language, Rempire Gallery, New York * 1993: Tranche d'Art Contemporain Anglais, Tutesaal, Luxembourg * 1998: Exquisite Corpse, Jibby Beane, London * 1999: Art 1999, Jibby Beane, London; Flesh, Blains Fine Art, London Nerve, I.C.A., London * 2000: Art 2000, Jibby Beane, London Up & Co., New York

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Duggie 1945 births People from Salisbury English painters English contemporary artists Painters from London 2021 deaths Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic