Insider Outsider Series: Preston Douglas (May 4)

Join us on Saturday, May 4, from 11:00–12:00 pm for the first presentation of InsiderOutsider: New Voices in the Art World, moderated by artist and curator MAGO. InsiderOutsider is intended as a series of conversations featuring underrepresented artists whose works challenge, intrigue, inspire, and offer opportunities for broadening art circles and engaging in creative dialogue.

Preston Douglas (b.1995) is a multidisciplinary artist who works between painting, fashion, and performance, whose work considers how these forms can create spiritual, nonreligious, atmospheres of faith for collective unity. His paintings are both remnants of performances and starting points for installations, addressing how surfaces can allude to both beauty and darkness through examining contemporary cultural conviction.

Like much of the artist’s work, Preston Douglas's installation TreeHuggers on view at LongHouse blurs traditional boundaries between painting, sculpture, fashion, installation, and performance. It also reflects the intersection of art, design, and nature that is at the essence of LongHouse.

In addition to participating in InsiderOutsider, Preston Douglas will be in residence at LongHouse from May 4 to May 10 for a series of workshops and interactions with school groups and visitors. The artist and his work are part of the MakerMentors program developed this year with the support and collaboration of BethGayle Coplan and BSquared Projects, introducing Jack Lenor Larsen and Preston Douglas to students at Amagansett and Wainscott Schools through creative learning sessions that culminate at LongHouse with the Douglas and his TreeHuggers art installation.

MAGO was born in New York City on June 5^th, 1982, to Colombian immigrants, weeks after their arrival to the United States.  They nicknamed their “special delivery” MAGO (Spanish for magician/wise man). MAGO is the symbol and signature used by this LatinX installation artist whose gutsy urban education and Latino heritage have developed into a signature style characterized by cross-cultural conversations, becoming the many faces of creativity. MAGO E. Martinez envisions the unimaginable and embodies multiple streams of innovative creation, inspiring culture to another plateau. First as an acclaimed installation artist and now a multifaceted professional with 15+ years of accomplishments, he has successfully labored in a spectrum of areas that allows him to connect with individuals as well as a diverse audience. 

Upcoming InsiderOutsider conversations:

June 30: Arta

July 7: Lucy Cookson

August 4: Oscar Molina

The InsiderOutsider series is made possible with support from Agnes Gund and the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning and County Legislator Ann Welker.