Alex Asher Daniel

From Alex Asher Daniel’s swirling compositions in oil, watercolor, ink, and mixed media, a range of expressive and deeply human figures emerge. Whether more abstract-leaning, like his oil stick paintings of contorted bodies that dissolve into fluid marks, or more straightforward, like his portraits of luminaries such as scientist Miriam Rothschild or musician Marco Pirroni, Daniel’s paintings are as much about color and emotion as they are about representation. “In my early work I was inspired by the figure, but I was intrigued by the shape of letters, numbers, and blocks of color. I incorporated that into my work, and it came across very graphic and two-dimensional,” he says. “Today, I still explore the human body, but I am searching for meaning within the unseen space around my subject—it makes for a much more multidimensional experience.” Daniel cites the poet Michael McClure, a former teacher, as one of his main influences.