Daniel Robson

After I obtained a BFA in fine art painting from The Art Academy of Cincinnati and dedicated four years to running an art gallery with my wife, we sold the gallery and moved to Manhattan to focus on our artistic endeavors. While my love of using found objects and mixed media continued, I actively responded in my art studio to the much larger city I was now involved in. Living in New York inspired me to return to painting cityscapes but with a much looser approach.

I use acrylic paint, house paint, ground pigment, paint markers, oil sticks, graphite, gel pens, ink—my medium is anything I can get my hands on to make the mark I so choose. In addition to the material, I love finding my formats in the trash. I often discover abandoned canvases or wood from old furniture in the many neighborhoods I have walked through. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and assemblage from these found objects has become my starting point. I use some photography as source material ,coming from photos I take on my long walks around the city. In addition to my own photos, I enjoy looking up historical images of the various neighborhoods and boroughs. I am a fast worker as I combine all these elements but put many hours into my work, enabling me to create two or three pieces at a time. 

I hope my work expresses the feeling of being part of a much larger network. Living in such an enormous city comes with the huge pressure to be accomplished. One can get lost living in New York, let alone conquering it. I try to incorporate this feeling into the many neighborhoods I paint. There is so much diversity working together here on so many levels, an idea I represent with my use of animals in my work. You can also find many nude bodies or body parts within my work; this is my nod to the exposure to which we are all subjected here. I believe we put ourselves out there hoping for the best, sometimes exposing too much of who we are and bringing judgment upon ourselves. All of these little ideas are indications of what is going on in my mind when I create and finish these newer pieces. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.