Daniel Merriam is a contemporary surrealist best known for his dry brush technique and imaginative style. Merriam’s unique visions are layered with colourful imagery in a style that reclaims the territory of dreams and romance for both classical and contemporary art lovers alike.
Born in 1963 in York, Maine and one of seven children, he taught himself to paint at a very young age and used his art as a method of reflective play throughout his childhood. He studied mechanical and architectural design and applied his dimensional skills and passion for architecture to the family’s design and construction business. He then turned his talents to the commercial art field, working as an architectural and commercial illustrator for a number of multinational corporations.
“I began drawing as early as I can remember. When I was a child, watercolours were made available to me, so I learned to articulate my imagery with what I had. I developed my own technique of dry brush and scaling, which, after 20 years, became what I would be recognized for.” Said Daniel.
By the age of 16 he had already garnered national media attention for his political cartooning. He studied architecture and journalism and applied his disciplines to illustration and design. At age 23 he turned his focus away from political and commercial applications of his work and began building a body of work intended solely for a fine art exhibition.
Well knowing the power of the pen, Merriam incorporated his intuitive sense of design and human behaviour into an immersion of surrealism that borrowed from Dadaism but diverted to ideals of the romantic and aesthetic movements. In his early career, he worked primarily in watercolour.
“This was a generation of finely cast hot press papers that handled very well with my technique. When those mills stopped producing this substrate, it was a signal to me to explore other mediums.” – says Daniel.
Now Merriam works with various paints and substrates, finding excitement in the exploration of how each material handles. The range of viscosities within mediums, paired against the tooth of any given canvas or board, leaves ample space for the exploration of possibilities.
“I’m constantly approaching a subject with a different method. I have my repertoire of building blocks for composition or icons I use as familiar touchstones. Architecture usually forms the armature upon which my compositions are built. Its symbolism holds my interest and keeps me grounded in an otherwise chaotic abyss of the psyche.” – says Daniel.
Daniel Merriam has been shown throughout the world and has been the subject of over 100 solo exhibitions.
