Artist's Statement

Artist statement

My work is in 2-d images on paper, panel, or canvas. Working in pastel, graphite, charcoal, oils, or ink, the focus of my work has changed over time - from early figurative and representational works, to phases focusing on western/southwestern landscape, to celebration of the beauty of fish and the sport of fly fishing, to abstract, non-representational work. 

In my work I am seeking to create objects of beauty and surprise, and a cohesiveness within a piece that lends it a gravity and authenticity in its self. Seldom do my pieces repeat themselves, and many bear no resemblance to each other.  I do not have a pattern or method of application of media, or technique or design principle, or literal theme. Rather, if I have a method, it is that the boundaries of any given piece become self-realizing principles in themselves: those boundaries may be simply the literal edges of the canvas, and may include a self-imposed limited palette, or other rules that become the "localized limitation" in which the work will grow.  This approach allows my work to have a broad range of subject, technique, and unpredictable visual exploration.

Bio

Daniel Brake (b. 1969) is an artist and website developer. He lives and works in Wichita, Kansas(USA). From 1998 until 2003 he taught Drawing and Art History at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kansas.

Since the early 2000s, his work has been shown in gallery exhibitions in Wichita, Newton, Hillsboro, and Golden, Colorado.  He holds a BFA in Art History from the School of Fine Art at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and an MA in Theological Studies  from Trinity Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.