DanielGiordan Artist Statement

Two themes are prevalent in my work: the Beauty of Decay and the Search for Home. I've always found images of decay, and entropy to be compelling and irresistible. Aged and peeling walls, crumbling ruins, and wilting flowers are repeated themes I've used to explore these realities. The Bible says that our life is like a vapor, and like the grass of the field that flowers one day and is burned up the next. If this is true, then what are the things that remain, what has value, and what is true? All of our advances in technology and science have not added much to this discourse. In fact, they stand in stark contrast to the fact that our days are still numbered and that we all are faced with the challenge of finding our justification and significance in the limited time allotted to us. These images make me aware of the passage of time and my place within it, compelling me to focus on making the most of my time. The Search for Home is another recurring theme that explores notions of safety, security, and finding my rightful place the place where I belong. We have always had homes; our current home, the home we grew up in, our first home. Even the homeless have homes, whether its a shelter, a box, or the neighborhood or corner where they spend their time. Currently, Americans are seeing their dream of home ownership, independence and the good life crumble around them. The house I grew up in still stands, and to passers by, its just a house. But in my mind its an emotionally charged construct full of beginnings, dreams, and disappointment. Todays homeowners struggle to maintain status quo as our economy falters and property values continue to slump. Our homes define who we are, where weve been, and where were going, making them fertile ground for artistic expression and exploration.Both these themes reveal themselves on the playing field known as "process", which for me consists of digital images and gestural paint. Images are printed on sheets of Tyvek (yes, the moisture barrier material they wrap houses in), and then painted and reprinted in an ongoing layering process. By overprinting images with complete control over registration, transparency and opacity, I can create a surface that is figurative, yet painterly and compressed. I add images, erase them, or opaque them out for reprinting or additional layering. Most of my artistic training was as a painter, and yet I have always excelled at photography. This process allows me to capture images and then use them in a push-pull process that's painterly, figurative, and image-centric.All images are original photographs printed on an Epson 9600 with Ultrachrome inks. Although Tyvek is my primary substrate, my approach to surfaces is open and adventurious- in some cases Ive used a resin-based paper that allows me to erase the image with water. In other cases, artists inkjet paper, glassine, canvas, tin foil, and even paper towels are used. All finished works are unique, non-editioned, and produced with the utmost archival standards.
Exhibit History

DanielGiordan Exhibition History

Born- Jackson, Mi- 1962MFA- Bard College, Annandale, NY 19925th Year- Museum School, Boston, MA- 1988BFA- Museum School, Boston, MA- 1987Yale Summer School, Norfolk, CT 1986UPCOMING: Coalition Gallery | Chicago Artists CoalitionChicago, IL- 2 Person Show, Feb 17th -Mar 7th 2012Coalition Gallery | Chicago Artists CoalitionChicago, IL- Group Show, Nov 12th - Dec 2nd 2012HISTORY:Coalition Gallery | Chicago Artists CoalitionChicago, IL- Group Show, November/December 2011Robert Bills Contemporary GalleryChicago, IL- Three Person Show, November 2011NEXT | Art ChicagoChicago, IL- Merchandise Mart, Art Fair, April 2011Black Cloud GalleryChicago, IL- Solo Show, March 2011Black Cloud GalleryChicago, IL- Bazaar 2011 Group Show, February 2011Robert Bills Contemporary GalleryChicago, IL- Three Person Show, December 2010Chicago Art Loop OpenChicago, IL- Merchandise Mart, October, 2010Hudson Valley Arts Association- Annandale, NY- Fall Invitational, September 1992Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Boston, MA- Travelling Scholars Exhibition, May 1989Boston University G. Sherman Union Gallery, Boston, MA Two Person Show, August 1987Stux GalleryNew York, NY Invitational, April, 1987Confusion / Order Gallery Boston, MA- One Person Show, October 1986-Curated by Doug & Mike StarnYale University New Haven, CT Fellowship Exhibition, June, 1986
Images

Search for Home
Time and Space
Gestures
Viva
Ideas

Search for Home

Time and Space

Grainery Two_LR.jpg

Gestures

ground

glacier

foliage

cloud

vine

grass

Viva

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Ideas

Josh

tires

sour grapes

dockage

peppers n' such

Contact

DanielGiordan contact

1025 Lakewood Drive

Bartlett, IL 60103

Tel: + 1 224 565 1539

Email: dgiordan_mac.com

DanielGiordan

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