Artist Statement :Strangers who happen into my studio for everyday reasons often ask, upon seeing me working on a piece, if I am a sign painter. I like that question. My answer is yes. That response is somewhat disingenuous as my meaning of the word ‘sign’ does not necessarily correspond to the questioners’ intent. On a practical level it allows us to get on with things.

My various questioners assume that I work within the advertising industry. That is an understandable mistake as my more recent work plays with the look of advertising. My intent is not a study, critique, or comment about advertising other than as a recognition of its ubiquitous presence within our contemporary enviroment. Rather the ‘advertising look’ gives me a method, an approach, a structure within which various sayings may emerge.
What is being said? What is being promoted? What is being sold? That, of course, I hope is obvious – art.

Double Door Studios & Gallery
4004 Horseshoe Valley Road West, Anten Mills,Ontario
(705) 734-9856, www.ddsag.com

Michael Coughlin – CV
1974 – 1977.GeorgianCollege, art and design programme.
1978 – 1982.YorkUniversity, bachelor of fine arts.
1988 – 1990. Renovation and construction of Double Door Studios.
1990 to present. Exhibits of work at the Double Door.
1997. Project coordinator of the MacLaren Art Centre’s Taking it to the Streets.
1997 to present. Development and operation of the Double Door Gallery.
2002. Exhibition at the MacLaren Art Centre,Barrie,Ontario.
2003. Project technician of the MacLaren Art Centre’s Shorelines 2003.
2005. Project technician of the MacLaren Art Centre’s Shorelines 2005.
2007. Project coordinator of the MacLaren Art Centre’s Urban Visions

EXHIBITION
 April’s “group of seven” at the Mad and Noisy gallery will examine how the juxtaposition of imagery can create a story or vice versa, how incorporated text can work to evoke memories or create a picture within each viewer’s mind.  Through mediums of encaustic, metal, paint, textiles and assemblage, this exhibition ultimately reveals the sequential nature of our existence and the interconnectedness or global reality of our society today.  We invite you to take in this narrative collection of works that celebrate the art of storytelling and the technologies with which artists choose to communicate our truths or fantasies.