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Born in 1965 in Kewaskum,
Wisconsin, where he now lives with his wife Jennifer, and
their young children, Dan's interest in art emerged as a
teenager. Studies at the American Academy of Art in Chicago,
Illinois and his voracious appetite for museums and the
modern masters such as John Singer Sargent, Alphonse Mucha,
Nicolai Fechin, Joaquin Sorolla, Carl von Marr as well as a
host of other French and American impressionists have
inspired him.
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Dan has a particular
interest and appreciation for modern Russian art and the
sumptuous canvases of the painters Nicolai Fechin, Isaac Levitan
and Ilya Repin. As Dan says, their paintings are "completely
loose yet deliberate and faithful, not at all flashy."
Indeed, the
powerful and evocative beauty of Gerhartz's paintings are also
due in large measure to looseness, honesty and faithfulness of
his style. Dan's paintings embrace a range of subjects, most
prominently the female figure in either a pastoral setting or an
intimate interior. He is at his best with subjects from everyday
life, genre subjects, sacred-idyllic landscapes or figures in
quiet repose, meditation or contemplative isolation.
His mastery of the
female figure, the clothed figure especially, is brilliant. He
has drawn inspiration from the very old tradition of romanticism
and symbolism. His absolutely lavish surfaces, color and
lighting are in harmony with his expressionistic brushstroke,
application and modeling of light and shade.
His paintings are
sensitive yet evocative creations, which dramatize his bold and
ambitious technique. He is at his very best when he allows
himself to explore the surface in a free and painterly manner,
while retaining his sense of other worldliness.
His subjects evoke
a timelessness and idealism, yet for the most part Dan has drawn
upon his home and community in Wisconsin, including family and
friends. His sense of intimacy and honesty with regard to his
subjects are a direct result of his closeness and proximity to
them. A projection of tranquility, repose and rich
introspection result from his knowledge of the content of his
art.
In Gerhartz's
pictures the ordinary or commonplace is transformed into a
higher reality and consequently a sense of greater importance.
Emotions are a vital part of his express design, while his
mastery of anatomy, the human form and complex surfaces combine
to make his canvases very powerful visual experiences. |
