San Francisco Bay, oil on panel, 18" x 24", 2004.
Atlantic Coast, acrylic on paper, 23” x 24 1/2”, 2003.
The tension between culture and nature had informed Daniel Oliva’s work for years. Growing up just north of Manhattan allowed him to study both the natural world of the Hudson River Valley and the city’s influential museums and galleries. At 28, he now calls Philadelphia home.
He received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland and has studied in Florence, Italy through Syracuse University. He recently exhibited a selection of work from his series “Nightscapes” at Gallery Siano in Old City. He was included in the Philadelphia Open Studio Tour’s juried exhibition, “From the Studio III” as well as the Main Line Art Center’s “Landscape Revisited” exhibition. He is a proud participant in CFEVA’s Regional Community Arts Program.
Artist Statement
The streets, homes, cities and towns of our world can be seen from space; it is clear that a network of interdependent human habitats have evolved around the globe. Visual evidence of this network reaches us through satellite images that display our civilization from a distant point of view. My work is in response to the current tension between our environment and our culture.
I am singularly focused on nighttime as the time during which we face our souls through dreams and the depth of the Universe. These nighttime images of the Earth contain artificial lights that reveal all facets of human construction. The lights present a dynamic in which humans gain an advantage over nature and simultaneously lose nature’s gift. City lights have replaced our need for a night sky. Identifying symbols of night, such as the moon, stars, and darkness are eroding and, concurrently, our identity in the Cosmos is changing. With fewer stars in sight many viewers of art are more familiar with terrestrial and in particular, cultural, avenues for spiritual insight. My goal is to evoke the richness of night and give the viewer an avenue for intimate contemplation of his/her place in the Universe.
I believe this topic is readily accessible to all people, regardless of philosophical concerns or artistic education. Everyone lives in this world and takes part in the rapidly altering nature of stargazing.
Contact Information
6618 Greene Street, #1
Philadelphia, PA 19119
tel: 215-848-3421
e-mail: danoliva@earthlink.net
www.danieloliva.com
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