ARTIST STATEMENT
Eleana’s paintings begin as landscapes and use natural forms as a grounding device. Once tethered to the present moment of making through materiality, Eleana is able to reprocess important memories and lived experiences through her own language of abstracted symbolism. Her work also centers around moral absolutism and considers how rule-based thinking can cause cognitive dissonance.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eleana Daniel is an oil painter from the American South and is currently based in Chicago, IL. She holds a BFA in Visual Communications from Columbia College Chicago. After an almost decade-long career in advertising as an art director, she returned to painting in 2019, and has since shown work at Split-Rail, Co-Prosperity Sphere, and Zhou B Center for the Arts. Eleana is currently pursuing her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She uses nature as a setting to ground her work as she reprocesses memories through the use of an esoteric symbolism. Eleana is also the curator of Mozart House, a series of DIY group art shows, and a volunteer graphic designer for Comfort Station.
© Eleana Daniel