Every day we are dying. There is no doubt that we are going to die. In every day we have the ability to make a choice on how we want to live.

Anything can be considered art. A chair, the way something sounds, or how it moves can all be seen as forms of art. For a Portsmouth artist whose work is heavily influenced by (sometimes controversial) Freudian concepts, a recent debut of his television show, “Infinite Expectation” challenges the audience to question art through an unconscious lens, provoking thoughts on life — and on death.    

“Why can’t art just be imperfect?” Doug Vogel asked, rhetorically. Vogel, who has spent 15 years as a hypnotist therapist has a vested interested in both concepts of life and death, and the urge to separate from the identity thrust upon him by society since infancy.  

According to Vogel, he has been an artist for over 35 years, dabbling in different forms of art, from found art and performance art to photography, utilizing various mediums. He has been highly influenced by Freud, Klee, Warhol, Motherwell, and Dali. One important feature and interest in Vogel’s art is the element of free association, automatic writing, and drawing.  

Vogel, who is right-handed, often uses his left hand to write in his journal as a way to provoke childlike nuances. He explained, “You can get more information if you write things with your opposite hand; you can get information that is more childlike and therefore perhaps more creative.” 

He is currently showcasing his understanding of communication, psychoanalysis, and performance art in a new medium — television. Vogel’s television series, “Infinite Expectation,” is currently airing in Rhode Island on Channel 18. The series is influenced by Marina Abramović as well as the surrealism of David Lynch, featuring unconventional camera angles, eerie sounds and dreamlike patterns — an exploration of the unconscious mind.  

Check out the first episode in the Infinite Expectaion series on YouTube

The next episode is about death  

The premise of his next episode is death. Vogel spoke about how he prepared (or didn’t prepare) for the episode, explaining that he worked off a blank canvas, without putting any conscious thought into it. He said, “This new episode is on death. It will come out however it comes out.” He went on to describe his attire, saying, “I have no idea why I wore this particular costume.”  

Concepts of freedom seem to seep into everything Vogel does with his artistic vision of this episode on death — and his overall view on life. He shared, “Every day we are dying. There is no doubt that we are going to die. In every day, we have the ability to make a choice on how we want to live.” He finished his thought by acknowledging the freedom that comes with this realization. “I think when I face that and accept it, it frees me to be able to do what I want to do,” he said.  

This is where Vogel’s art becomes controversial to some. He acknowledged, “Part of my approach is to be nonconformist and to break rules.” He does not want to conform to the notions and rules absorbed throughout childhood; instead, he wants to use art to explore what came before this identity was created.  

According to what Vogel has gleaned from his interest in the unconscious mind, even as soon as infancy, the word “no” enters, and language must be formed because of prohibitions from society. He explained, “All these ‘no's’ come up, and society enters in, and we must start to form language; that’s because of these prohibitions.” The conscious mind makes these choices based on language whereas the unconscious comes through without it, according to Vogel.   

He explained his “choice” of objects and clothing for the scene of his episode on death as an attempt to fill that lack and void. “So that’s the premise of what I’m doing; these objects come in from wherever they come in,” he said, nonchalantly, as if he didn’t actively make the choice. The use of odd camera angles and eerie sounds that create dream-like patterns in his television show mimic the detached, passive approach to decision-making in the creation of Vogel’s art.