R. Douglass Rice
Within You and Without You
2025

My work often begins with a simple formal idea and develops into an inquiry about perception, place, and the way objects hold meaning in space. Within You and Without You has a bold, open structure that is both architectural and bodily; its strong horizontal arms, central vertical forms, and circular openings create a rhythm of mass and void, solidity and passage. The work functions as a frame, a marker, and a threshold, an object that feels at once stable and permeable. Its geometric structure echoes built forms—such as harbor infrastructure, navigation, and industrial fabrication—while also remaining open enough to frame the atmosphere around it.

Color is central to the experience of the work. The saturated red surface gives the sculpture a commanding presence, allowing it to hold its own against the greens of grass and trees and the shifting tones of sky and sea. The color intensifies the sense that the piece is alive with energy, as if it were pulsing with internal force. This contrast between bold visibility and open structure reflects my broader interest in the relationship between object and environment, individuality and connection, presence and absence.