Our Weekly Spotlight on the Arts is shining brightly on Dan Ropp!
Viewers will quickly learn that each of Dan’s intricate paintings require a double take, not just one look but at least two. Maybe even three…
We have not only been mesmerized by his choice of vivid colors but also by his selections of a most unique mix of very different themes and topics. Ropp’s variety of favorite subjects are often generally portrayed standing on their own but rarely found pieced together. While we have seen many works of art related to various military aircraft, pet portraits, depictions of a variety of food and still-life as well as landscape pieces, we were intrigued by how these topics could be so fascinatingly intermixed.
Dan has indeed found an almost magical method to seamlessly work different ideas and concepts into a single piece of art. He has interwoven crabs and aircraft carriers, paired fancy sushi platters and flight lines, and coupled cats with copters in some of his past projects and has several other pieces in the works.
As a young child our featured artist was already dabbling in the arts, however it wasn’t until high school that he was able to experiment with and explore the world of oil paints. Now many years down the road of his career and as a father to three young children, Dan has relatively recently rekindled a flame to work with oils and further develop his fine art techniques.
A solid enamoring with surrealism for many years is often reflected in Dan’s work, mirrored and mixed in with life experiences and countless ideas for future creations. In a short interview, Dan recalled his inspirations as including “The Old Masters (such as Dürer, Vermeer, and DaVinci) as well as the Surrealists (Dali and Ernst)”. Other influences have included Buddhist imagery and psychoanalytical concepts forged by C.G. Jung and Erich Neumann.
Most of Dan’s work is completed in oils on a wooden panel. He purports that the results of blending are optimized with this particular medium and that they require a long time to set, which actually works in his favor as his daily art work window of time is often limited.
Shine on Dan, we love the unique perspectives and ideas that you have shared and are very much looking forward to seeing your future projects!
Links of interest:
www.flysurreal.com
Facebook: Fly Surreal
“One of my aims is to capture and convey the weird experiences and incredibly surreal moments/feelings which are not conveyed by mainstream art”. ~Dan Ropp
(Photos provided by artist.)