Artist Statement
We really love (Joel Douek's) work! It is poweful yet delicate, very well balanced.
- Art Curators of Japan
I've been an artist of one form or another all my life. I am drawn to weathered wood and metal, exploring their contrast with gold and other metal leaf. I find fascination and beauty in natural processes of aging, the rusting of metals into vibrant colors and the complex textures seen in old, reclaimed woods.
My work explores the innate art in these expressions of natural impermanence, often contrasted with the enduring permanence of gold. I believe that art can speak to the heart and to the senses in ways beyond words. Just as it speaks to me that way.
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​Sometimes my life feels like a string of transcendental or religious experiences. And everything I have tried to do in my creative work has been to bring others that kind of experience. Whether through music, art, sculpture, multichannel or spatial audio, this feeling underscores everything I have ever done. I have always reached for that and have tried to bring as many people with me, so they too can see what I can see. And if you see more or different, I want to learn from you.
There is no conscious or overt message in what I create. Instead my hope is simply for people to connect with my work directly, to share a fascination in the natural forms, materials and colors, a link from my subconscious to yours, without the need for a reason. I like to think: I am not the artist. Nature is.
"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time"
- Thomas Merton