Pearls
This collection of 13 oil paintings explores the journey of creation, acknowledging discomfort, embracing imperfection and the need for grit. Through transparent glazes, scratched details, and various paint events we see into the layered surfaces like gems. Each piece invites viewers to contemplate the interplay between struggle and triumph, emotion and intellect, darkness and light.
Artwork Archive Vault
Sand in the Oyster
oil on panel
16” x 20”
Breaking Ground
oil on panel
12” x 16”
Daydreaming
oil on panel
20” x 16”
String Quartet
oil on panel
12” x 12”
On the Edge
oil on panel
16” x 12”
Eclipse
oil on panel
20” x 16”
Dark Side
oil on panel
20” x 16”
Emerald World
oil on panel
20” x 16”
Conducting the Wind
oil on panel
20” x 16”
Mountain Winds
oil on panel
16” x 20”
The Rhinegold
oil on panel
12” x 16”
Divining
oil on panel
16” x 20”
Making a Pearl
oil on panel
20” x 16”
Duane BOUSFIELD
American, 1960
Duane Bousfield is a contemporary artist whose work explores the intricate relationships between line, form, space, and texture. Raised in California, Bousfield earned a BA in Psychology from San Jose State University before continuing his studies in Art Therapy and Painting at UC San Francisco and UC Santa Cruz. This foundation in psychology not only informed his artistic practice but also provided a unique lens through which to understand the complexities of the human mind.
His artistic evolution began while working as a night watchman at Apple Computer during the groundbreaking development of the first Macintosh. During this time, he explored abstraction by creating line clouds in ballpoint pen, seeking to discover how lines could come together to form depth, space, and character. Sequestered in a nocturnal routine, Bousfield developed a distinctive aesthetic through focused practice and refinement. For 13 years, he painted full-time by day on large-scale canvases—some as large as 9 by 7 feet—while continuing to study, draw, and create smaller works at night.
In 1995, Bousfield relocated to the artist community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he continued his studio practice and exhibited in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 2001, he began working as an art consultant in East Hampton, followed by positions at galleries in SoHo and on 57th Street. During this time, his studio practice shifted to smaller-scale works, shaped by the constraints of his Manhattan apartment–culminating in the Pearls series, a collection of 13 oil-on-panel paintings created between 2014 and 2018.
In 2020, Bousfield developed an innovative technique of one-line drawings in latex, evoking both labyrinths and the Japanese ensō. A larger studio, secured in 2021, allowed him to return to expansive canvases. In 2022, he published a 100-page monograph that resulted in two solo exhibitions at Upsilon Gallery in New York. In 2024, he moved his studio to Manhattan, near his home in Hell’s Kitchen where he lives with his husband of 23 years, a specialist in Alzheimer’s caregiving.
Today, Bousfield is a full-time artist based in Manhattan, represented by Upsilon Gallery in both New York and London. His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York, the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, and Apple Computer in Cupertino, CA—where his artistic journey first began.