Category Archives: Fine Arts Blog

“Who’s your inspiration?”: And The Answer You Didn’t Expect

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“Who’s your inspiration?”: My Ballet Of Unlikely Answers

by Daric Gill

The first question an artist is asked upon introduction is, “What type of art do you make?”. This is quickly followed up by, “Who (or what) is your inspiration?”. These are reasonable questions. After all, almost everyone knows what an artist is, but aren’t really sure what an artist does. And certainly, they don’t know where we get our ideas. Shoot… sometimes we don’t even know where they come from ourselves.

From experience I know that what I’m about to say is not the answer they are expecting:

My art and inspirations are interdisciplinary. So, by definition it’s not as easy to define. What then?

There’s always a ballet of rhetoric that I have to employ to maintain brevity but still answer with clarity. The following article offers both a brief explanation of my inspirations as well as a more in-depth description of how I get inspired. And if you’re one of those people who want to know more about your fellow artists, but aren’t sure how to start-up the conversation, hopefully, this can help.

[If you’re looking for Tips For Building Your Creative Tool Belt, click here]

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Contemporary oil painting by Daric Gill

Building A Beginning At George Billis Gallery, LA

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My Art: Los Angeles Bound

by Daric Gill

“Absolute: Struggle”, LA bound

After a gallery visit and meeting the director, I’m extremely pleased to announce that I’ve recently started a new relationship with the George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles. An Absolute painting has made its way to the gallery and will hopefully pioneer the journey for many more pieces in this location. A ‘test drive’ is usually in order for exhibiting with new galleries and I’m quite optimistic that our friendship has plenty to build on. If you’re in the area, please stop in and check out the space.

 More About the Gallery

The George Billis Gallery is an exhibition space with locations in New York City and Los Angeles. After maintaining a successful contemporary art space in New York, the George Billis Gallery opened a second location in the Culver City Art District in LA. Their locations in the heart of Chelsea Art District and Culver City Art District provide a great platform to showcase national and international artists.

Locations: 

LOS ANGELES
HOURS
Summer Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 AM – 5 PM
ADDRESS
2716 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Map it here

NEW YORK CITY
HOURS
Tuesday – Saturday, 10 AM – 6 PM

ADDRESS
525 West 26th Street, Ground Floor
Between 10th and 11th Avenues
New York, NY 10001
Map it here

Origins & Orchids: The First Absolute Painting

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The Story Behind The Original “Absolute” Painting & Updated Images

by Daric Gill

Absolute Orchid (Orchid's Empty). Oil on wood panel. 11" x 17 1/4". 2008
Absolute Orchid (Orchid’s Empty). Oil on wood panel. 11″ x 17 1/4″. 2008

We all love when a great idea travels along a bolt of lightning and blazes right into our skulls. But there’s also something really satisfying about a slow rolling brainstorm that overtime builds into something great. These kinds of ideas seem as if they need time to simmer down to a distilled form; extracting, refining, and aging to something far more potent. The latter of the two was the case for the origins of the Absolute paintings.

It so happens that the first in the Absolute series is also the last piece in a deconstructed triptych. The previous triptych actually starts as a portrait painting and ends in a still life. Originally titled Orchid’s Empty, this painting sat as an unknown transition piece for a few years.

In fact, I stopped making still lives altogether after undergraduate school. The brutal truth is that trompe l’oeil paintings (a painting style used to deceive the eye) is often a study about the ‘objectness’ of the still life rather than the pursuit of a complex concept. I realized I didn’t have any place for that limitation and I stuck to sculpture and portrait paintings until I had something more meaty to hold onto. Graduate school came and went as with my stint as a teacher, and I still felt a  little disenchanted.

 For a while, I almost gave up painting altogether…

 

[More Images Below]

 

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Living Orb Light Sculpture On Display At City Park

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It’s been a wonderfully busy summer so far! Along with a myriad of other art opportunities, I’ve been diligently working on a new sculpture that has just been placed in one of Columbus’ City Parks. I’m quite proud to debut The Living Orb, a mixed medium sculpture that has a slowly pulsing white light that activates as the sun goes down.

My sculpture is a part of the Find Me in the Park- It’s TREEmendous project, an initiative organized by the Columbus Parks & Recreations that encourages community members to investigate our city parks in a new way. Located on the east side of the Goodale Park (across from the Pizzuti Collection), The Living Orb is my interpretation of a mini-treehouse. It’s solar powered and hangs roughly 15 ft up in the air. Continue to learn about the making of.

Full Process & Image Gallery After Article

[*UPDATE* MAKE: Magazine Features The Living Orb! Click here to see their article.]

Make Screenshot

 

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