Otomys is thrilled to welcome American artist Danielle Winger to our stable of artists! Danielle Winger was born in Reno, Nevada, USA and spent her early life moving throughout The United States, including 8 states and 14 cities. Danielle received her Bachelor of Science in Textiles and Design from Middle Tennessee State University and her Masters of Fine Art in Painting from East Tennessee State University. Danielle spent her childhood summers returning to the same national park in Northern California and her love of mountains grew deeper during her years spent living in the Smoky Mountains. Danielle's paintings regularly reference these places in sentimental and nostalgic ways, seeing the world through the eyes of a child - large, unknown and ripe for adventure.
OTOMYS: Can you tell us more about your journey into a career as an artist - what drew you to painting?
Danielle Winger: I was a creative child, drawn to subjects that allowed me to uniquely express myself. I went to collage for Fashion Design and planned to pursue a career in that. In order to graduate, I needed to sign up to additional classes. Painting was the only class available and I needed a studio class to fulfil my minor. I joke that I accidentally became a painter, but the truth is I had never painted before and I knew within a few weeks that it was what I wanted to do with my life.
Painting posed a challenge I had never considered. There is not a determined end with it, it allowed for more intuition and input than sewing did. The process of painting is impulsive and unpredictable. I am never bored.
OTOMYS: Mountains appear to be a core motif within your landscapes. What is the conceptual significance of the mountain within your practice?
Danielle Winger: Mountains are often used as metaphors for great obstacles. They present the temptation of being conquered and are great ascensions that can only be reached by an arduous climb. One chooses to climb a mountain to both lose and find themselves. I think that applies to so many pivotal points in someone's life. The majesty of the mountain is unmatched in our landscape; it is a true showcase of natures sublimity.
OTOMYS: Do your landscapes represent real places, or are they a product of your imagination?
Danielle Winger: My landscapes do not represent real places. When I first started painting landscape, which was after grad school, they did represent places that were significant to my childhood. But over the years I have depended less on actual locations. I am more concerned with making a good painting, which is a bigger challenge than accurately depicting a landscape. I observe nature acutely, and gather elements that I am interested in, such as intriguing shapes, unique perspectives, varying horizon lines and light. Light is important to me because I find it can humanise a landscape by communicating a sense of emotion. There are certain elements or objects that repeat, with most landscapes being hybrids of different memories, other paintings, photos, and imagination.
OTOMYS: Your paintings possess a surrealistic quality, with a palette of otherworldly colours and compositions of enchanting and abstracted natural forms. What has informed your unique impression of the landscape?
Danielle Winger: I am deeply inspired by nature, but I have never actually painted outdoors. I may do a sketch plein air, but usually I am taking notes or photos. I work out all of my compositions in markers, which ends up informing how I approach a painting. Markers are bold and I am unable to really manipulate their value, so the drawings end up being very loud and gestural. It is a challenge to translate that to paint, and some surprising outcomes arise from that. I am always looking for the unintentional in painting, and then responding to it.
I often look to both expressionist and modern landscape painters such as Munch and Burchfield, who seemed to absorb the landscape, dissect it, reduce it and intensify what was left before spitting it out the other side as something entirely different.
OTOMYS: In many of your paintings there is a vivid red underpainting that illuminates your compositions. Can you explain your process?
Danielle Winger: I started using coloured under paintings when I was in grad school. I settled on the red because it posed the greatest challenge to actually see colour. It challenged traditional colour schemes as well. It created this inhuman quality that spoke to the imaginative and invented parts of my landscapes. I have gone through a number of different hues of red and have settled on one specific hue and brand that I now almost exclusively start with it for everything except my nocturne paintings. Using the red pushes me to slow down in painting, I want the be able to see evidence of it in the end and so I am more methodical and aware of where and how I am laying paint down.
OTOMYS: You once described the ‘desert as indifference’ when discussing your paintings. What metaphors are buried within your paintings?
Danielle Winger: Painting for me is metaphor. I title most of my paintings directly from paintings or other writings. And those readings directly influence what the composition is. black water, black boat was named after the Sylvia Plath poem “Crossing the Water”. The lines that stood out to me most in this poem were “the spirit of blackness is in us” and “where do the black trees go that drink here?”. I wanted to emphasise that all engulfing blackness, how the night can swallow up everything. While the poem and the title refer to a boat and two figures, I intentionally leave these things out. The tranquility and peace of the night is disrupted by their absence, leaving the viewer to search for signs of life. The poem ends with “this is the silence of astounded souls.” I enjoy visual language and story telling.
To enquire about Danielle Winger's work please contact info@otomys.com.
September 13, 2023
