Duggie Fields Explained

Douglas Arthur Peter Field (6 August 1945 – 7 March 2021[1] [2] [3] [4]), known as Duggie Fields, was a British artist who resided in Earls Court, London.

Early life

Fields was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire. 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, Hertfordshire. 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 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, Mondrian and comic books, with a special regard for those worked on by Stan Lee.

In 1968, Fields went to live in Earl's Court Square and shared a flat with Syd Barrett, who had just left Pink Floyd. 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.[5] [6]

By the middle of the 1970s, his work included many elements that were later defined as Post-modernist. In one painting, Marilyn Monroe is shown with her head severed.[7] 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.[8]

In 2002, he designed a poster for Transport for London.[9]

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".[10]

From 2013 to 2015, Fields worked for the preservation of Earls Court Exhibition Centre – 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.[11] [12]

In 2016, Fields was celebrated by the British Film Institute FLARE with a collection of his videos.[13] The National Portrait Gallery in London holds two portraits of Fields, by photographers David Gwinnutt[14] and Chris Garnham.[15]

Fields also composed and recorded music which he accompanied with spoken word performances.[16]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

The Arts Council and University College London have examples of Fields' paintings in their collections.[17]

Selected group exhibitions

Notes and References

  1. http://www.duggiefields.com/biography/biography_index.htm Biography
  2. Web site: Hodgkinson . Will . The great Duggie Fields, who lived his life as pop art, died today. . Twitter . 7 March 2021.
  3. Web site: Duggie Fields, hard-working painter at the heart of the 1970s fashion scene who shared a flat with Syd Barrett – obituary . 10 March 2021 . telegraph.co.uk . The Telegraph.
  4. Web site: Duggie Fields obituary. 12 March 2021 . theguardian.com . The Guardian.
  5. Web site: Pink Floyd news :: Brain Damage - 1982 - Actuel Magazine . Brain-damage.co.uk.
  6. Web site: Autoentrevista - Duggie Fields - Mucho más que un compañero de piso . Reyes . Antonio Jesús . sydbarrettpinkfloydesp.blogspot.com.
  7. Web site: Tea With Duggie Fields . 6 November 2010 . DangerousMinds.net . Dangerous Minds.
  8. Web site: Shiseido – 1983 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141208233757/http://www.theblitzkids.com/duggiefields/shiseido.html. 8 December 2014. 5 December 2014. The Blitz Kids.
  9. Web site: 8 Facts about artist Duggie Fields you need to know . Gq-magazine.co.uk . GQ Magazine.
  10. Web site: old_hollywood_celebrates_britweek_2013_230413 . 24 April 2013 . Contactmusic.com . Contact Music.
  11. Web site: earls court – Sometimes………..Duggie Fieleds . Duggiefields.wordpress.com.
  12. Web site: Duggie Fields: Listed Londoner speaks out against 'regeneration' . Paulgormanis.com . Paul Gormanis.
  13. Web site: BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival 30th anniversary programme announced . bfi.org.uk . British Film Institute . 27 March 2016.
  14. Web site: NPG x199661; Duggie Fields - Portrait . 11 March 2021 . npg.org.uk . National Portrait Gallery, London.
  15. Web site: NPG x38108; Duggie Fields - Portrait . 11 March 2021 . npg.org.uk . National Portrait Gallery, London.
  16. Web site: Duggie Fields . 23 April 2021 . discogs.com . Discogs . en.
  17. https://artuk.org/search/search/search/keyword:duggie-fields Duggie Fields paintings

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Duggie Fields".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.