soCurio | art is for everyone

I began doing art in the womb, tracing patterns on the inside of my mother’s tummy and wondering about the changing light quality, dimly showing through my amniotic sac. Well, it seems like my creative urges started pretty early. Those urges and ideas have steadily intensified and congealed, as my past gets ever wider than my future. I now work in a dedicated studio space where I furiously extrude a lifetime of creative visions, passions, concepts and notions onto canvas, wood and paper. Some of the series I have in the works are continuations of concepts I conceived of years ago. Other works are more spontaneous and less predictable. The elements of surprise and discovery have always been creative motivators for me as I seek to explore my artistic abilities and express my ideas. I see my approach to life and art as a dynamic series of challenges and contradictions between the conscious and subconscious, the spontaneous and the deliberate, the wild and the civilized. In much of my work, I've drawn from nature in visceral ways to amplify my deep connection to, and abiding passion for the wild world. As a backpacker, mountaineer, rockhound, and nature lover, much of my reference material comes from experiences in the wild, a curious mind, and my photography. My art has become another way of creating and exploring worlds unknown to me, or discovering new things about places familiar. Much of my current artwork is done in oil pastel, which I favor for their saturated brilliance and versatility - I use them on prepared canvas, art paper, wood panels, even Plexiglas. Oil pastels also allow me to enjoy transitioning between the disciplines of painting and drawing. I use up to a dozen different brands of oil pastel in some of my paintings, because of the variations in softness, opacity and color selection that allow me to build, transform and evolve a work until it gels visually – and mentally. I also enjoy working with mixed media, incorporating roots, shells and natural textures onto a surface, with acrylic paint, allowing me to transcend the boundaries of any one chosen medium. — Daniel Wend