Doug Panton, RCA
(b. Toronto, Ontario | Lives and works in Toronto, Canada)

Doug Panton is a Canadian visual artist whose hybrid artistic practice explores the beauty of chaotic systems through the intersection of traditional and digital media. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Doug has cultivated a deeply experimental and expressive style that spans drawing, collage, digital design, and mixed media. His work is recognized for its ability to hold space between control and spontaneity, structure and fluidity.

For over 20 years, Doug has served as an educator at OCAD University, where he taught in the Illustration Program and held administrative leadership roles, including Chair of the First Year Program. His dedication to creative education has influenced a generation of young designers and artists. His recent induction into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) further reflects his influence and excellence in Canadian art and design.

Doug’s artmaking is rooted in an intuitive, play-based process that embraces chance and material hybridity. He often begins with graphite drawings on paper, allowing initial gestures to lead him into deeper layers of exploration. Blending analog and digital elements, he integrates collage, scanning, and layering to create works that evolve through experimentation. This approach reflects his belief in the unpredictability of nature as both a source of inspiration and a metaphor for transformation.

Doug’s artistic journey includes a robust career in the advertising and publishing industries, where he developed a keen sense for visual storytelling and conceptual clarity. Today, his artwork bridges these commercial roots with a fine art sensibility, inviting audiences into richly textured visual narratives that celebrate multiplicity and contrast.

His portfolio has garnered international recognition, and his work continues to be exhibited, collected, and celebrated for its fusion of material innovation and philosophical depth. As an artist, educator, and creative thinker, Doug Panton remains a vital voice in contemporary Canadian art.