Patrick Dougher

"I don’t think there was an exact moment in which I realized that I had a love for art and the creative process. As the Rastafarians say, I’ve had these feelings “from ever since,” meaning, I think they are intrinsic and integral to who I am."

For Patrick Dougher, we can say he has done it all. He is a self-taught artist, he's musician, poet, educator, and spiritual activist. Patrick caught the eye of the art world with his truly amazing mixed-media collages and paintings, which focus on the identities of Black people. He portrays diverse subjects in a quasi-representational style that combines vivid, often discordant tempera colors with a flattened, fragmented treatment of form and space.

Through his art, Patrick Dougher conveys a sense of purposeful motion, capturing the urgent, impetus of the civil rights movements. Often deeply philosophical, his incredible art has a universal spirit and emotion that transcends race, class, and language. Generally speaking, Patrick Dougher seeks to inspire and celebrate the noble beauty and divine nature of people of African descent and to connect urban African American culture to its roots in sacred African art, spirituality, and ritual.

Over the years, Patrick Dougher has also worked as a teaching artist in NYC public schools, as an art therapist working with HIV-positive children, and as the Director of community arts organizations. For over 20 years Patrick has used the arts to empower and support the socio-emotional growth and health of “at-risk” and disenfranchised youth of the city. Besides art, Patrick has played and recorded with Grammy award winners Sade, Chuck D (Public Enemy), and Dan Zanes as well as many other notables. He is the drummer on “Dub Side as the Moon” one of the best-selling Reggae LP’s of all time.