AR: What was the driving force behind your choice to become an artist?
Dan: I have always loved working with my hands and enjoy the creative process. My traditional training as a stone carver has its particular constraints and i enjoy pushing the boundaries.
AR: Does your artwork have a message?
Dan: Not a message as such. I like to play with the ideas of perception and assumption. For instance I often disguise the stone by spray painting it, giving it a new surface so that it challenges the viewer. If anything its more about memorialising. Setting an object in stone, freezing it in time.
AR: Do you keep tabs on art trends or are you all about doing your own thing?
Dan: I love to see what other artists are up to, but I’m mainly inspired by the period i grew up in 80’s-90’s.
AR: What/who are your biggest influences, artists or otherwise?
Dan: The YBA’s are my biggest influencers. I like their brevity and anarchic approach to giving the establishment of the time the big middle finger.
AR: How has your life and experiences influenced your artwork?
Dan: All of my work is heavily influenced by my memories that hark back to the prime of my life. I set these memories in stone to make them permanent. I am constantly creating memorials to the those formative experiences.
AR: What did it feel like when you sold your first artwork?
Dan: Pretty damn good. It reaffirmed to me all the effort and commitment is well worth it.
AR: What’s your favourite creative work (artwork, music, play, film, etc)
Dan: That would have to be Ai Weiwei’s Cao, which I saw at the Royal Academy in 2015. This haunting and technically brilliant piece blew my mind. I have never been so moved and inspired by a sculpture and its maker.
AR: What is your workspace set up like? Are you in a studio/do you work alongside others/are you at a laptop or freehand?
Dan: My studio, which is in an old piggery just on the Norfolk, Suffolk border, is very minimal due to the amount of dust I create. I work at a banker (a stone carvers bench), using traditional carving tools - mallet and chisels. I share my studio space with my wife who is also an artist.
To check out Dan's full collection of sculptures, click here!
