Daniel Hooper
Almost everything in Daniel Hooper’s sitting room - including
the table, chairs, floor, walls and occasionally even Mr Woo, his French
Bulldog – is covered in paint. This is
his studio where he usually has at least three canvasses on the go at the same
time, ensuring that each version of the same picture is subtly different.
“I like synchronicity” he says. “These paintings are all originals. They
aren’t identical, although they follow a similar theme with similar colours. They could even work as a triptych”.
Daniel, whose largest collector is based in Bahrain, is becoming increasingly popular on Instagram and in our galleries.
His recent collections followed a series of acclaimed
abstracts but now he is driven to produce art where we, the observers, can see
an actual image to relate to. Subsequently,
Daniel’s “Blossoms” collection was inspired by the stand of willows he looks at
every morning from his window.
Never one to stand still, Daniel’s next concept, “stylish
floral art”, is a work in progress and his dining room studio will soon have a coating
of fresh paint. Hopefully Tabby, his
pretty ginger cat, will continue to be the one inhabitant of his colourful
house to avoid it.
Born in Winchester, Daniel Hooper studied at the prestigious Westgate School where he enjoyed what he
describes as an “art phase”. While his creative flair would remain throughout
his education, Dan pursued a career in construction from the age of 16.
As a qualified carpenter, Dan’s job allowed him to travel, working on building sites around Europe. It was during this time that he nurtured the skills and knowledge that would later help to create his unique art.
During his spare time, Dan would use leftover paint and remnants from construction sites as his canvas, marking the origin of his signature style painting on wood. His work was noticed by The Discerner magazine, which led to him becoming a featured Saatchi artist—a process which normally takes much longer and tends to be reserved for more established artists.
Drawing inspiration from the world surrounding him, Dan mainly focuses on nature and movement, such as birds in flight or marine creatures in water.
With an aim to make people think about their surroundings he notes that, whilst most people are alienated by phones and busy lives, they can still be transfixed by nature - highlighted by TV shows such as David Attenborough documentaries.
“We’re on Planet Earth and nature is all around us, we just don’t see it,” he muses.
When creating his artwork, Dan calls upon techniques from his construction background. By initially painting in blocks, he is able to slowly build layers up to add movement to the finished product. The end result, and the reaction from his audience, is what drives him to continue creating art.
Because of his background, Dan admits to getting messages from people from all walks of life. Thriving from the buzz of selling his one-off art pieces to the public, he admits he finds it important to “take the snobbery” away from art, and tries to make it accessible to a broader audience.
Daniel Hooper remains dedicated to creating one-off powerful pieces with soul and has now teamed up with Portfolio Fine Art Publishing to reproduce his works in strictly limited editions, allowing his work to be more accessible to a wider audience.
"The
trees came about from me looking out of my bedroom window one morning in spring
last year at the Cherry Blossom which is basically my view .. I thought ... I
should paint this ... and did .... since then I have played with the idea
colours materials and so on. They seem to have captured people's imagination
across the world and are on display in homes and businesses worldwide. The
feedback I get from buyers is .. we saw this and simply fell in love ! They are
happy feel good pieces and who doesn’t like trees right?"