One of my favorite places to draw inspiration from is Fine Art. There are so many talented artists that I admire. Lately, I’ve been loving the work of Los Angeles-based artist Dani Tull. Many major publications like New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Wallpaper have recognized his work. His art is a blend of aesthetic formalism and mysticism.

Dani is a contemporary artist who received his MFA from Stanford University and BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Not only is Dani Tull a painter, but he’s also a sculptor and musician. He has been featured in galleries and museums internationally. He has permanent exhibitions at some of the world’s most renowned museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Getty. Dani Tull lives and works in Highland Park, CA with his wife Yvonne Bas-Tull. Together they curate an artist-run space called ODD ARK LA.

Dani Tull’s Artwork

In his latest series, Take a single letter from the stream, Dani Tull’s art begins with language. He takes personal texts and poetry from others and hand writes them on the canvas as a base. Layers of paint cover the text, but the words serve as the inspiration behind the finished product. 

Dani Tull refers to his abstract paintings as “narrative abstraction.” They are language-based and inherently sentimental. He also refers to these compositions as “self-correcting forms” – always striving toward equilibrium while arching against collapse. He created this series with Flashe on linen.

Once We Were Trees

I love the beautiful vibrant colors and wavy intersecting lines that suggest movement in the above piece, Once We Were Trees. The piece below is called La Sagrada Familia. It is a reference to Gaudi’s Barcelona basilica.

La Sagrada Familia

all creatures, fold into my nature

The piece below is called all creatures, fold into my nature. It is made with paint encrusted encaustic and oil on burlap. The colorful horse really stands out against the subtle background.

Last of the wild horses

In contrast to the last piece, the tiny horse in the piece below is harder to spot in the painting, Last of the wild horses. I admire the detail of the horse on such a small scale. I also love the colors and their application. It gives a cool prismatic effect.

Slow Burners

In the photo below you can see Dani Tull’s solo exhibition at The Pit in LA called Slow Burners. The exhibition had a mix of paintings and sculptures. Dani Tull created the artwork with wax from many different sources including birthday candles, memorial candles, and kids crayons. Other sources of the wax include relaxation candles burned at home and casting wax burned out from the works of his artist friends. The culmination of these sources symbolizes life, death, and transformation.

The hanging lanterns in the exhibit are functional and made by hand. The lanterns bulbs and wires that create an electric current can be seen as a parallel to the human body and states of human consciousness. The light cast from the lanterns creates an overlapping of colors. Dani Tull created a couple of his lanterns in collaboration with the renowned Judson Studio known for using innovative fused-glass techniques.

Convergence

The piece below is from Dani Tull’s collection, Convergence. He made the collection with Encaustic on carved wood. The lines on the structure resemble spiderwebs. The lines also make me think of sheet music since he is also a musician and composer.

I hope you enjoyed exploring the abstract and mystical art of Dani Tull with me. I appreciate his whimsical style and the themes prevalent in his work. What were some of your favorite pieces?

Check out another artist I admire local to Orlando or read about the contemporary abstract art of Nick Collier.

Warmly,
Megan