After ending the year with their “All Star Artists for 2014” exhibition Thursday, the Venue Fine Arts and Gifts Curator David Colman noticed that rather than focus on detailed, traditional art, the year of 2015 will lean more toward abstract and colorful work.
The exhibition featured works of local and regional top sellers from the year. “All Star Artists for 2014” ended Thursday after a nearly month-long run. Among the artists represented was Daniel Lager, the artist who solidified the color trend for Colman.
While he initially saw it in a series of works that represented red poppy fields, Colman noticed that last year ended with a popularity in Lager’s colorful Plexiglas paintings.
Lager, a painter based out of St. Paul Minn., works in reflective art. He said he feels that typical art is overcomplicated. He compared it to a wordy poem that does not get to the point quick enough.
“I’m a minimalist,” he said.
Lager said his 2014 art was more “stringy.” His preferred painting subjects are landscapes and trees. However, his trees are not what most would expect — they are abstract. In fact, none of his trees have obvious leaves.
They are lush, but full of wisps of color, all strung and woven together to attain the semblance of a tree.
Now, Lager said he is pulling away from string and switching to drops of color. He compared the texture to raindrops.
Most of his work revolves around painting directly onto the back of acrylic glass.
Lager then paints in layers starting from the foreground up, going from minute detail to sweeping background color.
“It plays with you a little bit,” Lager said, because traditional painting is normally the opposite. The typical painter starts with the background and then builds their way up. Lager compared his process to rushing down a hill on a bike without control.
It’s a one-shot process, he said. “Once the paint touches ... it’s done.”
However, the risk in his art is worth it because of the color payoff.
Unlike classical painting, which can go overboard with detail, his work does not allow him to work with too many complexities. His technique creates a depth of field that pulls his audiences in. Only, for him, it happens all in one go.
“It makes the paint look like it is wet,” he said. “The color is rich ... makes you want to look into it.”
