DAN
My journey into art initially started out as somewhat of a staggered one. As a youngster I was constantly drawing, sketching or doodling(defacing school exercise books). Moving forward into my teens, I abandoned this lifelong obsession for a short period and trained / qualified as an apprentice panel beater.
It wasn't long before I was juggling evening courses in Art and Design with my ill-fated career choice. Shortly following this with a one year diploma in Design at Jacob Kramer.
By the time I’d completed these, my enthusiasm for Art superseded everything and after completing a Fine Art degree at Leeds University, I was completely hooked on applying paint to canvas
(As unpopular as it was back then!!).

If I referenced the artists that have influenced me I could ramble on forever. I'm a keen follower of contemporary art in all its creative forms, that said, I do tend to look back for a lot of my inspiration.
It was Hopper's 'Nighthawks' that initially sparked my early interest in art. Damien Hirst's 'Spot' paintings persuaded me to try using a paintbrush. Durer, Vermeer and contemporary artists such as Clive Head, Ed Ruscha and Richard Estes all played their part in influencing me.

I find the simplest way to describe myself is "a painter." Over the years I’ve had many a conversation with fellow artists who will quite often describe how they'd developed a comfort in their technique. For me, it's an ever challenging, constantly evolving process driven by a conflict between my obsession with perceived details and the desire to demonstrate evidential repetitive brush marks. Personally the physicality of applying paint to canvas will always be at the root of what drives me. A deliberate restriction of sorts designed to help focus the narrative.

There are stories sown into each piece of my artwork, often sparked by simple day to day observations or by casual conversations that people kindly choose to share with me. Second to this, but perhaps more obviously is my fascination with reinterpreting the patinated imperfect beauty of overlooked places or forgotten objects that seem to be endlessly recreated by time itself.