Colombian-born painter Douglas Cantor creates bold, richly coloured works that incorporate text and symbols alongside human and animal figures. Having moved to the UK initially to study for an illustration degree, Douglas has since veered away from client-based and commission-focused illustrative work to pursue a more painterly form of expression.
His practice today is based in conveying his own experience via symbolic imagery and phrases that hold personal significance. One such motif that features prevalently in Douglas’s work is that of the horse, which appears in his paintings as a muscular, powerful being. In stylistic terms, Douglas draws on the aesthetic of religious art, as well as the black and terracotta designs characteristic of ancient Grecian pottery. There is a nod, too, to sporting iconography in his inclusion of logos from recognisable sports brands and in the athletic posturing of his figures, a theme that arose, he tells us, in response to the creative culture of Berlin and its perceptions of high and low-brow culture.
Douglas now lives in Glasgow with fellow painter Sophie Vallance, both his partner in life and in art. He talks to us here about adapting to new creative environments, forging images that resonate with him as an individual, and cultivating honesty in making.