Each Is Only One.
When pressed to tell me more about his work, Danny just said, "You need a definition? They're original paintings". I admit to being disappointed. I first thought he meant original vs. a print or original as a way of saying "paintings I made" – or even original as a marketing term.
I've now come to understand the meaning of origin in much better terms. For Danny, it meant to create something that has no precedent, which is not a duplication of something he'd seen in others' works, or even in art as a thing. His process of painting, his isolation from conventional influence, the extreme solitude of his endeavor, and the quality of "oneness" that each piece possesses have all taught me that "original" is no casual term, but an elusive goal Danny set out for many years ago.
One of the first things that intrigued me was that each piece was not just one-of-a-kind as created, but would always be one-of-a-kind. I remember staring at one of Danny's paintings as he stared at me when he hooked me with a rather cryptic and exciting comment " Each one exists in solitude, by itself, never to be repeated. They are, in fact, irreproducible."
Now that I've tried to photograph and convey what the art is and how it affects the viewer, I can certainly agree. I can't get a good picture. No copy or scan could ever capture the nuance, subtlety, and layered interaction of subject, material and light. Therefore no print can ever be made. It is not physically possible to go beyond the original. In fact, Danny's newer work is so intensely interwoven that it changes color, form and image based on the position and distance from which it's viewed.
If someone were to try and repaint one of Danny's pieces they'd face an impossible task. As the painter himself has taught me, the works are painted in a non-repeatable fashion. They are non-representational. They are created by respecting the integrity of each and every stroke. They are created without purposeful desire. To recreate, you'd have to match the painter stroke for stroke, and even Danny can't do that.
Even the photos here are but pale hints at the final work. The best I can do is attempt to show elements and angles, pieces and patterns, colors and composition as isolated, solitary elements within the work... knowing they fall far short of delivering the truth of the work.
Danny himself can't even paint another piece to match a previous one. I've asked him to do something in particular, and he just looked at me and shook his head. "I'm not even there when the paint goes down. How can I possibly fill an order if there's no one there to order around?" Comments like that usually stop me cold.
One-of-a-kind indeed.
Strokes>