Daniel Wheeler

I paint and draw objects and images from my own life or that of an imagined one, a quotidian one. These things are in some way props, vehicles or backdrops for experience. This is figural in intention despite some things being represented literally. Some objects that I use reveal ingrained histories, some do not, some are strange, and some are mundane, some are both, however they remain universal in the way they are communicated.

The way I work has evolved loosely from the essay form as I understand it in film, that is seemingly unrelated images forced into dialogue with one-another. I translate this first into my drawing practice and subsequently into my painting practice where it becomes distilled into threads or trains of thought.

The drawings are related, they are not singular referents, they are finished works as opposed to preparatory ones.

This way of working is a practical tool that allows me to structure my painting and drawing, maintaining a relationship between individual works, allowing tangential thinking and the freedom to investigate different ideas. With drawing, the media is more able to unify the disparate imagery I sometimes employ. Painting takes it to more unexpected conclusions.

When generating ideas for paintings and drawings I use a framework with three main areas of interest, those being the generic (objective), the personal (subjective) and the art historical. I aim to make work that satisfies at least one of these categories and in an ideal work all three.