THE ARTWORK
For The Louvre Series the artist has spent time directly in the space of the museum selecting the objects from their collections and drawing them from life on to his laptop using AutoCAD. Then, he combined them to create his narratives in a digital form, printing them onto canvas and painting with acrylic on top of them. Nevertheless, for the Louvre Series, he took inspiration from his travel from Paris to New Zealand working on the digital drawings until he printed in Auckland. Then he travelled through New Zealand painting on them. In the summer of 2016, Arango wandered around the Louvre Museum for six weeks selecting fifty objects from its collection to draw. He found hidden corners almost every day. Many times he would return to those rooms, empty of tourists, and draw the objects in different lighting. After he drew all fifty objects he set off on a year journey across the world and worked on the digital drawings during his adventures. Some of those cities he visited were documented directly on the paintings with his Instagram photos and text. From Paris he travelled through Europe, then he flew to India, Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia and finally reaching New Zealand where he completed the Louvre series. In Auckland he printed the digital drawings onto canvas. Following that, for two months he hitched-hiked, trekked and camped across both North and South Island with his paintings. Arango painted outdoors and was influenced by the amazing landscape he was surrounded by and its dramatic colours.
THE ARTIST
Daniel Arango (1982) is a Colombian born, American raised artist, who roams the world making work and looking for inspiration. Previously based in New York City, he has been moving nomadically with his studio since 2011. For Arango’s most recent series, he composed intricate layered digital drawings exploring his environment in relationship to history and contemporary culture. He pulls inspiration from art objects, antiquities and buildings of the world’s great cultural institutions, namely The Metropolitan Museum and The Louvre Museum. For the Hawaiian Series he lived in the Maui jungle for four months harvesting plants and absorbing the exotic environment. Arango creates images of depth and real beauty through a detailed process of drawing from life, manipulating and playing off the images represented, to printing and applying paint, often painstakingly painted so there is no trace. Arango's family fled Colombia’s civil war when he was three, moving to Miami. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Interior Design from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design. Training in both interior design and painting influenced his art practice very much. The impact of architectonics is integral to the finished work. Arango creates tight structures within his works to act as a point of departure from which to explore a looser imagining of line and form in the composition, and to liberate the self within a rigid homogenizing society.
SELECTED SOLO/GROUP SHOWS:
Printed Matter's LA Art Book Fair, Misc. Press, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles (2016);
The Blonde Salad Party, Le Bain, The Standard, New York (2014);
The 21st Annual Watermill Center Summer Benefit, The Watermill Center, Watermill, New York (2014);
“It’s All About The Kids” Benefiting St. Jude Children’s, JW Marriott Marquis, Miami (2013);
Noches De Galerias, Katsuya By Stark at SLS Hotel, Miami Beach (2013);
Storytellers and Mystics, Art Connects New York, Brooklyn, New York (2013);
COME AND GET IT!, Hendershot Gallery, New York (2012);
Petite-Mort- Recollections, forever & today, inc., New York (2011);
Voyage Issue XXXX Magazine, Big Screen Plaza, New York (2011);
Cocktails At Sunset, Hosted By Steven Klein, Bridgehampton; ACRIA’s Unframed, 23 Third Avenue Penthouse, New York (2011);
The ART OF LOVE, Milk Gallery, New York (2011);
Whatever Forever, Black Sheep Projects, Providence, Rode Island (2010);
Graduate Thesis Show, Rode Island Convention Center, Providence, Rode Island (2010);
crit 4, Spencertown Academy Arts Center, Spencertown, New York (2009);
Graduate Painting, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island (2008);
GLAAD OutAuction, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York (2007);
American Slide-All, New York Studio Gallery, New York (2007);
Art.B.Q, East River Bar, Brooklyn (2006);