Doug Groupp

Caveman Idol

Mixed Media on Canvas

2025

About

Doug Groupp aka Clown Soldier, was born in Queens, NY, and has been an artist all his life. Groupp graduated with a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 1993, and has worked in many mediums, including Oil, Acrylic, Gouache, Watercolor Painting, Frottage, Collage, Screen Printing, Sculpture, and Street Art in the forms of wheat paste, murals and Ad Takeovers.

Doug Groupp has been working as a street artist in New York City for the past 12 years. In 2009, he adopted the name Clown Soldier and pasted the first wheat paste of his image of a clown in a revolutionary war-era soldier's uniform, playing on the incongruity of the two identities. The Clown Soldier image also refers to the absurd and playful nature of creating art, "clowning around" with color, line, image, and form. The fun and excitement of working in public spaces and creating chance encounters for the viewer, not only with his images but with the spaces themselves, has inspired Groupp to focus on street art over studio work.