Bio – DAN JOYCE art


Bio

 

BACKGROUND AND PHILOSOPHY

I started my career in a boarding home in Pasadena in 1996. I didn’t have any money, and the owner encouraged me to sit on the corner and try and sell my art. I sold work that same day.

Here you’ll find my watercolors. My oil paintings. My books. My music. My videos. I have a calendar for upcoming releases and events and don't forget to sign the guestbook!

I've have had an extraordinary life. One of my gifts is that I’m comfortable sharing the darkest places with others. 

Take my hand and let’s walk together.

I have an Associate of Arts Degree in Business, a certificate in Computer Graphics, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, specializing in graphic design and illustration.

I also studied abroad in Florence, Italy. My paintings have been featured in galleries and museums all over Southern California: Green Door Gallery, McClain’s Coffeehouse, West End Gallery, Bowers Museum, a studio/gallery I started with Bill Reid in the Spurgeon Building, AvantGarden Gallery, as well as several spaces in Magoski Arts Colony and Chinatown.

I've published eleven illustrated journals/poetry books and am currently working on screenplays for them. Bus Stop Talk is my most popular title.

This page is dedicated to my late father, whose love and support helped build my career. 

I consider myself a transcendental painter, creating from my subconscious. All my work is about me. I know that sounds egotistical, but it isn’t; an artist captures what he/she knows. I do well when I take my time, but I find it more challenging to paint rapidly, capturing a subject or image’s raw emotional quality. I am also very prolific. Whether a painting, a poem, a song or a video, I do something creative everyday.

Inspirations: Mental health, sobriety, existentialism, and world religions.  

Artistic Influences: Music. People. Color. Love. Modern Art History. Jackson Pollack’s action painting. Rapid painting. Andy Warhol’s mechanical drawings. Vincent Van Gogh. Marciano and Richard Martinez (teachers/mentors). Technology.  

Musical Influences: Miles Davis. John Lennon. Tupac Shakur. Bob Dylan. Johnny Cash. Carlos Santana. The Ramones.  

Writing Influences: James Joyce and stream of conscious. Oscar Wilde. Joseph Conrad. Ernest Hemingway. Maya Angelo. Charles Bukowski. Sylvia Plath. Walt Whitman. Allen Ginsberg. Tennessee Williams.

I am somewhere separate from the norm of the society, documenting what I am doing and going through, whether it is in a hospital, a boarding home, or homeless, anywhere where I am basically feeling alienated or isolated. I feel my philosophy is more dynamic that static: it is ever-changing as I grow.

I am an advocate for Mental Health Awareness and a strong believer in medications and therapy. I believe the illness enhances talent in some people. Most artists have a cause they represent; this is mine.