Daniel F. Gerhartz
Daniel Gerhartz was born in Wisconsin in 1965 where he now lives with
his wife Jennifer and their three young children. His interest in art
piqued at an early age when a teenage friend suggested they spend one
dreary afternoon drawing. It was at that moment that he discovered his
lifework. Daniel began his art education at the American Academy of Art
in Chicago where he studied in the classical tradition and immersed
himself in applications of technique and design. After a brief stint in
commercial art, he began pursuing fine art; visiting museums to study
master works and painting alongside contemporary artists. Daniel found
his passion in painting from life. This direct approach to working with
the figure and landscape allowed him to see and attempt to capture the
infinite nuances of light, color, and form. This continues to drive his
enthusiasm today. Since then he has been featured in solo and group
shows across the country and has won several awards at prominent
national invitational exhibitions and his work has been collected both
nationally and internationally.
The artist’s skillful and
technically adept work celebrates the created world, the human form,
personal relationships with a connection to landscapes and environments
of special importance. Many of his figures are dressed in dramatic
clothing which he often invents for its aesthetic appeal and lyrical
quality so as to achieve a sense of other worldliness.. His subjects
evoke a timelessness and idealism, yet for the most part Dan has drawn
upon his home and community, including family and friends, for subject
matter. His sense of intimacy and honesty with regard to his subjects
are a direct result of his closeness and proximity to them. A projection
of tranquility, repose and rich introspection result from his knowledge
of the content of his art.
In Gerhartz’ pictures the ordinary or
commonplace is transformed into a higher reality and consequently a
sense of greater importance. Emotions are a vital part of his express
design, while his mastery of anatomy, the human form and complex
surfaces combine to make his canvases very powerful visual experiences.
Daniel
Gerhartz has established himself as an important American painter among
the leading talents of our time. About his work Dan has said, " My goal
is to effectively record the richness of our human experience, the
contrasts between life and death, the dance and dirge, the beautiful and
common, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, while in the end, offering a
message of hope and pointing the viewer to the eternal." and " As I
paint my subjects from life and have the privilege of studying the awe
inspiring breadth and depth of the beauty of the created world, it is
humbling to ponder the greatness of our Creator." Johann Sebastian Bach
said it well as he signed his work, ‘Soli Deo Gloria,’ to God alone be
the glory."
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