Dan Petro

I love to paint and draw. I have been drawing mostly for over 30 years. I started to paint more seriously about 5 years ago after retiring from teaching art at a public school for 20 years. I studied art at California State University Long Beach and earned a BFA in Drawing/Painting in 1992. Early on I was fascinated with the human form and my work focused on the figure and portraiture. I have since moved on to work in abstraction experimenting with emotional expression and the formal elements. I grew up in a suburb in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles. My parents were professionals and my childhood was very ‘middle-class.’ There was a very minimal appreciation for art, although both my parents were creative. My father was an engineer/ draftsman for a structural steel company, so he made drawings (blueprints) of structures all day long. My mother loved interior design and she would design and make clothes sewing. All of my adult life I have struggled with the idea that art can be more than just a pretty picture. Being an artist is a calling for me. I have come to believe in the making of art as a redemptive act. It brings me deep satisfaction and meaning to create some thing new, as well as a deeper developing of self-awareness. Since I began drawing in the eighties I have been dream journaling also. The unconscious dream world has and continues to enrich my imagination while being a reservoir of inspiration for my art; as well as a profound guide to emotional awareness. Surrealism, Post Impressionism, and German Expressionism were my strongest influences early on. I have now turned to Abstract Expressionism, originally rooted in the idea of ‘automatic drawing’ and stemming from Surrealism and their exploration of the unconscious. All of these styles have the idea of color as the most significant element of art in the expression of one’s self. I am most interested in the interplay of shapes and color, but I also love line, texture and composing. To quote Robert Motherwell, “the process of painting then is conceived of as an adventure, without preconceived ideas on the part of persons of intelligence, sensibility, and passion.” I love the feeling of entering the studio, blank canvas and palette waiting. The sensation of mixing colors alone is a very joyful activity. Then spontaneous drawing as I try to let go of control in the exploration of a new composition allowing the brush and medium to lead in a creative journey. Dan Petro