Doug Ashford

Teacher, artist, and writer

Doug Ashford is a teacher, artist, and writer. Ashford uses documentation from social and political manifestations and demonstrations, as well as abstract painting, digital printing, cropping, and coloring, to contest the mediating role of artwork an

Doug Ashford is a teacher, artist, and writer. Ashford uses documentation from social and political manifestations and demonstrations, as well as abstract painting, digital printing, cropping, and coloring, to contest the mediating role of artwork and explore new expressions and analyses of events. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, Ashford was a member of the New York-based artist collective Group Material, which advocated socially engaged public practice and took activist stances on issues such as consumerism, AIDS, and the relationship of the artist, art object, and the viewer. Since 1989, Ashford is Associate Professor at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, where he has taught design, sculpture, and theory. His work has been exhibited at: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, 2017–2018; Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, 2017–2018; 11th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, 2016; and dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, 2012; among others.