Existing comment:
My New Haircut #7 -- also called "Red Bull Gives You Wings!
Dan Smith (aka seedanpaint), 34, Artist/Elementary School Art Teacher
Athens, Georgia
"My artwork is spreading like a disease," Dan Smith grins. The 34-year-old artist and elementary school art teacher, who holds a master's degree in art education from the University of Georgia, has been actively making art for about 16 years – primarily paintings, but also woodcarvings, mobiles and sculptures, furniture and frames, graphic design, and prints. He declares, "I'll do anything to use my creative energy!"
As a proud Yankee living in the Southland, Smith is clearly unafraid of bucking convention. His lifestyle and his art reflect that adventurous spirit. Smith has been involved in Georgia's downhill and freeride mountain biking scene, as well as sportbike motorcycle racing. His art has evolved from abstract canvases to a cartoon style influenced by skateboard culture, punk rock, comics, children's books, and "lowbrow" art; and Smith's work for Red Bull Art of Can combines what he calls "spontaneous monsterfication" (a technique in which he improvises drawings of monsters) with the visual interest of hair. "I guess I am obsessed with hair. I've done several My New Haircut paintings, each with a different animal or monster for the hair," the artist comments. If this work on display at Union Station catches the public imagination, perhaps that disease Smith is spreading will become pandemic. |