NAME: Daniel Bilodeau
BIRTH PLACE: Montreal, Canada
BIRTH DATE: 3.8.79
BIOGRAPHY
Daniel Bilodeau was born in Montreal, Canada where his love of art took root at a young age. He earned a BFA from the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida and studied painting, drawing and art history at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy.
While on an academic visit to Paris, Daniel was mugged and stabbed in the head and in two places on his painting hand. Having a brush with death has the transformative power of increasing one’s appreciation for life. This was a gift that came along with Daniel’s misfortune. Also, having been deprived of the ability to create artwork for the first time in his life, Daniel recognized it’s true importance to him. With time and physical rehabilitation full use of his hand was restored. Working with a cast on, Daniel watched as his skills were slowly given back to him. This sealed his devotion to art making for life.
Daniel’s romantic and surprising artwork is in part a reconciliation between the classical and the modern, as well as a foray into the sensory and the sensual. He is a contemporary realist figurative oil painter with a taste for modern graphic design. He uses bold color and masterfully honed technique to construct dreamy worlds.
His inventive paintings explore the human sense of self and the balance between the concerns of daily life and our deeper spirituality. Between the mundane and the divine, the self and the Self. What form of social conditioning moves one man to stab another for a camera? What form of nurturing moves a woman to drop everything and rush to the victim’s aid five minutes later, effectively saving his life?
The subjects of Daniel’s paintings have a refinement all their own. They exude a dreamy equipoise; they operate within an ethereal world. Many are painted as though permeated with love and understanding. They are indeed expressions of the unity that underlies all things. Others symbolize the ego and are pictured moving along at their own speed towards an understanding of love. The settings, the facial expressions, the eye contact all suggest that the audience has a direct role in the drama that is unfolding before them. To view his artwork is to discover yourself involved in a situational experience with the person pictured. This participatory feeling is enhanced by the highly realistic quality of the piece. Textures and lighting are crafted with an eye for fine detail, so if a figure is reaching towards you and pressing her fingers against the surface of the painting, the illusion is a convincing one.
Daniel’s works have been exhibited at museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad including The Franklin Mint Museum and the Guardian Gallery in Tokyo. He is represented in numerous public and private collections; and has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Best of Ringling Presidents Award and the George Sugarman Foundation Grant.
