ValleyArts Orbiting Gallery Inaugural Exhibition
Firehouse Artist Lofts
580 Forest Street, Orange NJ 07050
Opening Reception: Friday, October 26, 2012
Exhibit runs through Dec. 2
Trained at the Arts Student League in NY and the Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston, Dan has been featured in twenty one-man shows in galleries from Chelsea, NYC to LA, California. He has produced giant murals in different states and had a featured mural exhibit at the Montclair Art Museum. In a recent edition of Play Times, published in Singapore, the editor wrote: “Equipped with a unique painting style that infuses cartooning, street modernism, and traditional motifs, Dan is definitely someone to look out for in the East Coast art scene.”
Dan intricately paints his famous tribal patterns on hot and trendy urban vinyl dolls, which he then embellishes with ornamentation in the form of wood sculpted headpieces, metal spikes and additional objects that infuse each figure with a distinctive personality. Wavedog has created a universe of distinct, one of kind sculptural creatures and is selling at galleries in New York, Los Angeles and France.
In October, 2009 Dan was commissioned by the Montclair Art Museum and painted a 32-by-12 foot mural that hangs 30 feet high in the glass atrium at the museum. The mural has received rave reviews and Museum Director Lora Urbanelli says “Dan approaches his canvas intent on capturing a deep and serious cultural spirit. In the synthesis, myth and symbol are processed through a graphic filter that combines depth of meaning with a lighthearted and dazzling presentation. The result is both youthful and mature, thought-provoking and down-right fun!”
In 2010 Dan was commissioned by the Barat Foundation to create a large-scale mural to welcome the Dalai Lama to the Newark Peace Summit. In that same year he was commissioned to paint another large-scale mural in the city of Grand Rapids, MI.
This year has brought more exhibitions and murals. Dan was asked by Major League Baseball to have his artwork included in the MLB Fancave in NYC where it will be on display until December.
Dan has also recently co-founded the company behind the successful Wavedog Sports™ brand of sports apparel. His designs can be found in many local sports shops and online dealers around the country.
Dan Fenelon Artist’s Statement:
The work being exhibited at the Firehouse Gallery is series of urban cave paintings that represents a juxtaposition of tribal art, street art and influences of modernism. I want to create the idea of a tribal artist in a contemporary world. Graffiti lends itself to this idea but I am also interested in the sophistication of modern art. Found objects, video projection, collage elements and a mix of different paint mediums have helped push the work in this direction.
My goal is to create artwork that works in the way of Art Brut, but also to thetrained eye, has aspects of a studied artist. Influences include abstract expressionism, pop art, fluxism, post-modernism and installation mixed with the heart of a tribal being.
