Artist's statementMy paintings, like childhood, are colorful, playful, chaotic, exploratory spaces that are prone to changes. For several years I've been exploring power plays in a parochial school setting. More recently, the work has incorporated brutalist architecture and the social dynamics that occur where utopian ideals and realities conflict.
A 2015 artist residence at a HUD housing complex in Far Rockaway, resulted in documentation, works on paper and several large scale paintings that are currently being worked on. For the school themed work, I built a scale model based on the grammar school I attended, populated with clay figures and furniture. It functions as a movie set and I construct my paintings as if behind a lens; employing cinematic angles, cropping and deep focus shots as well as layered imagery reminiscent of multiple exposures. I routinely take pictures of the staged sets, Photoshop them for various effects and use them as springboards for the paintings. The Sock Puppet Presentation paintings, a developing series, are my close-ups. They are archetypal explorations of forming personalities in a cultural rich atmosphere, not unlike NYC. Another body of work involves grafting new imagery onto discarded paintings by others and myself. |
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"Walking into Gallery Sensei this month, I was struck by the strength and power of painting when it is allowed to be itself." |
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"...where I fondly recall seeing a nice suite of small paintings by Danny Licul" Best of Brooklyn Art 2015:
The Past Conditional Edition |
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