Christopher Daniels: The Long Way

April 19 – May 25, 2008

Number 35 is pleased the present the first solo exhibition for Christopher Daniels. Young American artists continue to deal with political subject matter in increasingly subtle and impersonal ways. Such is the case in works of Christopher Daniels.

Using Crayola crayons, Daniels fills the two large canvases on display for this exhibition. His characters are mostly faceless miniatures either performing everyday acts or acting out a narrative for a larger story. They are interwoven with symbols: arrows, x-marks, flames, disjointed text, located near a tell-all legend that the viewer must locate and decipher. Both canvases are dense, with compositions held together by impossible landscapes where ice floes coexist with deserts.

At once endearing and twisted, these tiny characters tell sophisticated stories. Drawn mostly from his travels, Daniels relates to his viewer the social and political situations of people found outside of urban areas, usually well after paved roads end. He does not censor nor take sides. He simply depicts these stories as they are revealed to him. 

Not all narratives are weighted with social commentary. Daniels peppers his composition with whimsical stories and fantastic creatures acting upon, or being acted upon, by the work’s population. No story possesses a greater significance than the other. They are all simply a part of a cycle of a life, harmonious at one moment and at war the next.