Dana Edelman

Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA, USA

Artist statement

Artist Statement I paint angels - not the celestial or decorative kind, but everyday angels who move through the world among us. These angels belong to a realm that is just beyond ordinary perception, revealing where they live and how they move through their own world. These painting emerge through the process of painting rather than from a fixed image or narrative. I begin with an intuition and allow forms, figures, colors and relationships to reveal themselves through layers of oil paint. I respond to what happens on the surface - the unexpected mark, the shifting edge, a fragment of a figure - allowing each discovery to direct the painting. Line, color, texture, and gesture become ways of finding rather than describing. Figures appear and disappear within the surface, never fully resolving into a single explanation. The paintings occupy a space between recognition and abstraction, where an animal becomes a companion, a strange figure becomes an angel, and an ordinary gathering takes place in an Edenic world. The angels are animated, playful, curious, and at times mischievous or unsettling. The unfamiliar does not need to be feared or explained. It is simply part of everyday life. These painting ask us to see and experience these worlds.

Artwork