Figurative Drawings From Lockdown

With life drawing impossible during this wild year, I retreated to the materials I had handy: reference photographs, a giant monitor, pencils, and paper. Absent fresh memories of working from life, my take on the figure became less grounded in the reality of flesh. Instead of form, I found myself exploring the nature of light and color. For me, light has never merely illuminated matter. It is an active, living process. Now, divorced entirely from matter, I dove into the ocean of light, and light took on a central narrative and spiritual role in my work. Color became central to my organization of the image, dividing the plane into a rich and varied field, shimmering with life. I discuss my work this year in greater depth in Shrine Magazine, archived HERE. 

Daniel Maidman is best known for his vivid depiction of the figure. Maidman’s drawings and paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, the Long Beach Museum of Art, and the Bozeman Art Museum. His work is included in numerous private collections, including those of Brooke Shields, China Miéville, and Jerry Saltz. His art and writing on art have been featured in The Huffington Post, Poets/Artists, ARTnews, Forbes, W, and many others. He has been shown in solo shows in New York City and in group shows across the United States and Europe. His books, Daniel Maidman: Nudes and Theseus: Vincent Desiderio on Art, are available from Griffith Moon Publishing. He works in Brooklyn, New York.