I completed numerous large American interior paintings during the 1970s, and with much success. Towards the end of this period, a new series of black and white paintings and graphite drawings evolved. These were close-cropped images that depicted scenes of everyday life, which in most cases the figure was involved in the activity. In 1981, one of these images was included in an exhibition at Pratt Institute in New York. In the catalogue that accompanied the show, Ivan Karp wrote:
"Recently, Bond has embarked on depictions of mundane household activity in a stunning series of black and white works totally bereft of 'sensitivity,' lyricism, poignancy, nostalgia or any of the traditional sentiments that observers of Realist art generally find attractive.
Douglas Bond's work is totally consonant with our gallery's aspiration to exhibit artists who are awake to art history but are not self-consciously trying to produce it."
