Daniel Brown

I was born in New York City in 1950 and began painting at age 15 but later switched to photography which is how I learned about light, color and composition as well as how to interpret the world through a rectangle. Returning to art in 2000, I still use photography as references or as an inspiration for a canvas while painting out of my studio in Santa Fe. My Southwestern landscapes are inspired by northern New Mexico especially the region of Abiquiu that runs along the Rio Chama. When people back East ask what inspires me, I usually answer, “I just walk out the door and look around.” As a creator, I challenge myself and spend as much time observing and even listening to a painting as I do applying media. There is a quote from John Fire Lame Deer, a contemporary Lakota Indian mystic who observed that “Artists are the Indians of the white world,” meaning that they are the visionaries who bring elements of the unseen spirit realm into the physical. I try to blend both while capturing and interpreting the unique qualities of the New Mexican landscape.