The art of
Collin Douma
the art of
COLLIN DOUMA
“If nature is everything in the universe except us, are we on the wrong side?”
United Fauna
Eco Surrealism
Watercolors & Inks 2011-
Collin Douma's paintings and mixed-media sculptures depict animals that have seized discarded human technology to use in defense against us.
Each piece combines hand-painted and sculpted elements with salvaged debris as both material and argument.
At some point in antiquity, we drew a line between ourselves and nature, then used that line as a license to extract, exploit, and destroy. If nature is everything in the universe except us, are we on the wrong side?
United Fauna Dimensional
Eco Surrealism
Mixed Media Sculpture 2024-
In 2024, Collin began exploring three-dimensional work through mixed-media sculpture, using the same themes as the United Fauna paintings.
Research identifies each machine-animal pairing, resulting in dispatches that describe the piece.
Once the beast/machine combination is determined, Collin sources found items such as broken toys and models, and sculpts the rest. His primary medium for this stage is an epoxy sculpt, similar to clay, which air-dries after a couple of hours. Acrylic patina and sealer finish the piece.
UF3D
Mixed Media
2025-
UF3D
These hybrid beings transform human waste into instruments of resistance. Sculptures made of the debris animals might scavenge in a post-collapse world. Acrylic putty, acrylic paint, metal, found objects, whatever it takes.
Drawing From Life
Watercolors & Inks
1992 -
I first noticed it on the Toronto subway: adults sitting together in silence, nobody presenting or performing or preaching. This communal quiet is remarkably rare in life. I've found it in only two other places: Quaker meetings and life drawing workshops. I haven't returned to Quaker circles since moving to New York, but I've never stopped drawing. For me, it's communal meditation, not art. My Algonquin College professor, Anne Morgan, saw something in my watercolors and set me on a thirty-year path of silence in color and zen. Thank you, Anne.
Null Flag
Vinyl, Metal, Cotton. 2025
In a time when every emblem is charged with meaning, Null Flag offers a radical alternative: a flag that demands no allegiance, dictates no belief, and defines no viewer. Instead, it becomes a window reflecting what each person brings to it.
For some, it may symbolize transparency and honesty. To others, it could stand for absence or rejection, a refusal to participate in the endless cycle of symbols that define and divide us. It might be seen as a placeholder for what could be, or the embodiment of pure potential.
The deepest truths are found not in what is declared, but in what is left unsaid.
Vinyl, Cotton, Metal 2025
Skyline traces the evolution the NYC silhouette across six generations, from the 1920s to the 2020s. Each form marks a moment when the city looked up and decided to go higher. It’s ambition cast in shadow. A hundred years of reaching, falling, and starting again. The shapes shift, but the urge stays the same: to leave a mark. To matter. To be seen from a distance, space and time.
Vinyl, Cotton, Metal 2025
Null Flag
Vinyl, Metal, Cotton. 2025
In a time when every emblem is charged with meaning, Null Flag offers a radical alternative: a flag that demands no allegiance, dictates no belief, and defines no viewer. Instead, it becomes a window reflecting what each person brings to it.
For some, it may symbolize transparency and honesty. To others, it could stand for absence or rejection, a refusal to participate in the endless cycle of symbols that define and divide us. It might be seen as a placeholder for what could be, or the embodiment of pure potential.
The deepest truths are found not in what is declared, but in what is left unsaid.
For two weeks, the Null Flag flew quietly over ArtPort in Kingston, NY, until a storm ripped it to shreds. A brief moment of silence. We all go back to shreds.
Null Flag
Vinyl, Metal, Cotton. 2025
In a time when every emblem is charged with meaning, Null Flag offers a radical alternative: a flag that demands no allegiance, dictates no belief, and defines no viewer. Instead, it becomes a window reflecting what each person brings to it.
For some, it may symbolize transparency and honesty. To others, it could stand for absence or rejection, a refusal to participate in the endless cycle of symbols that define and divide us. It might be seen as a placeholder for what could be, or the embodiment of pure potential.
The deepest truths are found not in what is declared, but in what is left unsaid.
Null Flag
Vinyl, Metal, Cotton. 2025
In a time when every emblem is charged with meaning, Null Flag offers a radical alternative: a flag that demands no allegiance, dictates no belief, and defines no viewer. Instead, it becomes a window reflecting what each person brings to it.
For some, it may symbolize transparency and honesty. To others, it could stand for absence or rejection, a refusal to participate in the endless cycle of symbols that define and divide us. It might be seen as a placeholder for what could be, or the embodiment of pure potential.
The deepest truths are found not in what is declared, but in what is left unsaid.
dearly Departed
In private collections
Subway Series
Digital Phone Sketches in Transit