About Me

 

Artist's Bio

Generally speaking, I'm one of the 6,692,030,277 humans currently living on the planet Earth. More specifically, I'm a banjo pickin, paint flinging, creative type who loves making something out of nothing. Some people look at a white piece of paper and see a white piece of paper. I look at a white piece of paper and see an exploding sun shooting shrapnels of ultra violet flower petals onto a barren landscape of dali-esque cactus people.

 

Artistically I'm at a crossroads. Flaoting in a nebulous space between realism, surrealism and expressionism. Lately I've been painting more realistic oils, but still keeping my mind open to a non-realist way of expressing myself. My increased intrest in painting realism lately is a direct result of my renewd passion for photography. I've shot thousands of photos of the west in the last few years, and some photos scream out to tranformed into paint.

 

I'm also a self taught musician. I play guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and piano. I write my own songs, but also play traditional bluegrass, folk, and fiddle tunes.I am big fan of acoustic music, especially those styles with deep American roots like blues, bluegrass, and jazz.

 

I have a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Montan, and I currenly teach 7th grade art at Helena Middle School. I'm represented in Helena by the A.L. Swanson Gallery, and I have a show on display at the Jade Studio in Butte. I've exhibited my artwork in many shows and galleries including the, The Walking Man Gallery in Whitefish, Venus Rising Gallery in Butte, The Gallery of Visual Arts at the University of Montana, and the Myrna Loy Center in Helena.

 

If you're interested in purchasing artwork, hosting an art show, booking a musical gig, or any other art or music related business please email me at victor@vicdaniel.com

 

 

Artist's Statement

As a child growing up in Butte, I spent a good amount of time doing things that would make most parents sick to their stomach, like exploring abandoned mine shafts and rummaging through piles of mine tailings. These adventures through old mining areas have shaped the way I create art. I’ve always been fascinated how nature transforms man's creations. It rusts, erodes, and takes back all that we strive to build. I now live in the historic West Main Street district of Helena, and much of my current work has evolved from hiking around my neighborhood. This neighborhood was built by early miners trying to strike it rich in the hills and gullies around Mount Helena. The old limestone kilns, bits of clay pots, mine shafts, broken bricks, and old rusted tools haunt me on my walks, and escape through my paint.

 


I’m also influenced by animals that live among us, from coyotes, to ravens, to sandhill cranes. I want to weave together their form and texture into a symbol that carries more psychological and archetypal weight than a simple illustration. My work ranges from realistic, to expressionistic, to the surreal. I work in a variety of mediums, many times combining paint with ink and drawing in order to fulfill my artistic vision. My paintings incorporate elements of figurative, landscape, abstract, surreal, and expressionistic styles. I weave together styles in order to forge new connections. In my photography, I try to hold a mirror to nature. By duplicating and flipping images, inanimate objects become something far more magical. They take on animal characteristics that appear both familiar and alien.

 

Ultimately I draw influences from aging industrial remnants like mining sites or train yards, as well as the epic landscapes and wildlife abundant in our state.