Contemporary American artist Doug Argue was born in 1962 in St. Paul, Minnesota. After attending the State University in Bemidji, Minnesota, from 1980 to 1982, he studied at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1983.
Argue quickly established himself in the art scenes of St. Paul and Minneapolis. As early as 1982, he participated in an exhibition at the Bemidji Art Center. Further exhibitions followed, including at Daedalus Fine Art in Minneapolis and the Saint Paul Art Collective. Solo exhibitions of his works took place in 1983 at the State University Gallery in Bemidji and in 1985 at the Tally Gallery in the same city. In Minneapolis, exhibitions in 1984 at the B Square One Gallery and in 1986 at the MC Gallery were dedicated exclusively to Argue and his creations.
In the mid-1980s, he set up a studio there, initiating an active creative phase during which he was inspired by the dynamic life around him. Shortly thereafter, in 1986, a trip to Venice influenced Argue and his work. Although there is no direct connection to the lagoon city, these paintings are characterized by a dark, expressive surrealism.
In 1987, he was awarded a prize by the National Endowment for the Arts, and in the same year, he exhibited for the first time in New York at the Bockley Gallery. In the following years, his paintings were shown exclusively at the Bockley Gallery, this time in Minneapolis. Alongside various group exhibitions, numerous successful solo exhibitions followed, especially in Minneapolis and New York.
Several museums and galleries also dedicated themselves to his paintings, including the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. In 1989, his son Mattison was born, which had a lasting and profound impact on his work. The themes of childhood and fatherhood visibly occupied him, as reflected in the paintings of the following years.
He received special honors thereafter: in 1992 from the McKnight Foundation, in 1995 from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and in 1997 with the Prix de Rome. The latter award included a scholarship and a one-year residency at the American Academy in Rome, where he traveled extensively and formed friendships with other fellows.
In 2009, he was awarded first prize in the London International Creative Competition. Solo exhibitions of his oil paintings on canvas followed in April 2011 ("The Study of Infinite Possibilities") and in February 2013 ("The Art of Translation"), both held at Edelman Arts in New York.
His paintings were also shown in 2012 at the Haunch of Venison gallery and the Associated American Artists gallery in New York. Additionally, he had the honor of exhibiting four of his large-format paintings at the Venice Biennale in 2015. Recently, two of his works were commissioned for the lobby of the new World Trade Center in New York. Nowadays, "The Big Apple" is the center of his life and work; he has set up a studio there and gained significant recognition. Besides participating in major exhibitions in California, Miami, and Thailand, he has taken part in significant exhibitions in New York in recent years, such as "True Colors" in 2018 at the Nassau County Museum of Art. His works have repeatedly attracted the attention of the New York art scene and a global audience at Waterhouse & Dodd and the Marc Straus Gallery.