Daniel A. Reed

Jan 26, 1960

Born in Massachusetts.

Raised in Miami.

1980's

Worked for Marvel and DC comics

Attended Miami Dade

One man show at the Museum of Science Space Planetarium.

Interviewed on Miami television program "Something on 17".

Spent three years in Paris, France, traveling across Western Europe absorbing the culture and painting.

Lived in New York City for several years, participating in various group shows.

Currently residing in Rockland County for the last seven years, participating in group shows.

Two person show, "Textural Terra",  Jan-Feb of 2002 at Wyoming Arts Council in Perry, New York.

Barrett painting auction,

Group exhibit,2003 Bronxville, New York

Group show with New York Plein Air Painters, 2004 Mt. Kisco, Westchester, New York.

One man show at the JCCY of Rockland County, New York.

Team Captain of the Annual Central Park painting event for two years running.

New York Ambassador for the International Plein Air Society.

Daniel has four distinct  painting expressions that all stem from the same highly emotional and intellectual base." I love pure non objective because it stresses the underpinning essentials of art; composition, color, shape, and yet I love doing the human figure because it is through this filter that we seek to understand our reality... our environment. Which of course is the appeal in painting landscapes. Combining all of these elements shouldn’t really be seen as different genres, so much as a totality of the physical, psychological and philosophical".

Landscapes

There is an undeniable exuberance Daniel A. Reed feels while standing amidst the majesty of nature, Paintbrush in hand, attempting to obtain the virtually unattainable. Each canvas expressing some of the wonderment that is the artist's journey as he  conveys the magic of the moment. Enhancing the thrill of plein air landscape painting is the excitement of doing it "Alla Prima" ... in one sitting. After reading up on an area, Daniel elects to drive to the spot to allow the area itself to be the inspiration. The moment occurs as the 'perfect" composition leaps out and virtually demands to be painted. Daniel has found that the endless challenge isn't trying to get a photographic likeness of the area so much as capturing a feeling of the eternal element underlying the landscape. One of the great pleasures on this Earth, Daniel feels, is the exhilaration of walking away from a panorama with a painting that has become a part of the drama that is nature itself.

Portraits

The act of Painting portraiture is one of the most exciting and challenging in the entire arena of art. Painting the shape of a person's content isn't convincing without getting to know the person to some degree. Daniel usually converses with the subject, learning about their personality , so that not just surface details are revealed in the finished canvas. The uniqueness of a person's inner self determines the tone of the pallet and composition, so all his portraits are clearly as individual as the people posing for them.

Abstract Representational

When the world that Daniel conjures up is first viewed, the convergence of non objective and representational painting combined with photography vividly emerges as an organic uninterrupted flux. The temptation to categorize art into nice distinct boxes fades as the implicit rightness of abstract representational flows off the canvas and invades our realm with primal force.

The vivid colors employed with an impasto brushstroke, solidify the unmistakable feeling of the other in this work. The other world, the other realm, the other persons viewing this world in a sharp photographic snapshot. A snapshot that at once disturbs while simultaneously reassures our macrocosmic worldview.

There is a recurring motif of the great metropolis under scrutiny as though from another dimension by nude, muse-like figures. The nudes seem to dance to universal concepts just out of reach of the consciousness of the city dwellers. This mode of communication appears to be a conduit for the experiences that life has so far impressed upon the psyche of the artist.

Nonobjective

Art in it's purest state is really all about colors, shapes, and composition. Historically the cutting edge of art over the last hundred years or so has become increasingly abstract to the point where it's no longer even abstracted from something but, rather, has become the thing itself. Instead of imitating nature, art, using hue and form, has become a new object.

Not unlike a Paleolithic cave painter performing sympathetic magic, Daniel utilizes what he refers to as pure "Subconscious Mind Projection", he allows all the experience that he has had up to that point to flow across the canvas.