Observing Turman’s paintings...it’s striking how clear his ideas are, how unobstructed and available they are, and also how they build on one another to offer a complex, interrelated whole. A series of aphorisms or maxims present themselves: 1) small things matter, 2) little things can carry big ideas, 3) a sustained practice adds up, 4) art is available for everyone, 5) one person can do many different things, 6) the artist gives his viewer permission, 7) these pieces are accessible yet sophisticated, 8) art can be fun, and 9) while each piece has a lifetime of skill and art historical knowledge behind it, the viewer can absorb it immediately. It is amazing how Turman communicates all of this in very short order.
—Brandon Reintjes, Senior Curator, Missoula Art Museum
Doug Turman was born in Seattle and raised in Missoula. He received his BA in Art from Oberlin College and an MFA from the University of Montana. He worked at the Phillips Collection in Washington DC before heading back west to pursue his career in painting and printmaking. For 18 years Turman and his wife Mary Lee Larison ran Turman Larison Contemporary, a fine art gallery in downtown Helena. In 2016 the Holter Museum of Art in Helena hosted Here and There: An Italian Journey, a solo exhibition of Turman's work tracing the influence of his many trips to Italy where he and Mary Lee actively conduct workshops featuring painting and cooking.