Daniela Schweitzer
Daniela Schweitzer: Artist Statement
People, human gestures, and the simple beauty of everyday events inspire me to paint. Slight movements of an otherwise ordinary person or people’s daily interactions and experiences that may go unnoticed to others, catch my eye. An ice cream vendor handling a cone, two neighbors talking in a doorway, a Sunday stroll to the “feria”, or two dancers connecting through rhythm and passion. I love capturing people as they go about their daily lives. The play between color, light, contrast, and gestures is my biggest inspiration in choosing a story! Even though my paintings are usually planned, sometimes they take a different and surprising route after my first brushstrokes touch the canvas. The excitement of not quite knowing how each painting will evolve is my favorite part of the process. My palette consists of vibrant colors that I build into several different layers that convey a special history, story, and emotion in each work.
Biography
As an artist born in Argentina, a local resident, and an avid traveler, I am drawn to diverse scenes and people of many different cultures—this inspires me to paint! As a classically trained artist, whose current work involves mostly figurative abstract pieces, I am inspired by people, human gestures, and the simple beauty of everyday events. My love for drawing and painting started at a very early age. When I was 6, I began my Classical Training in Art in a Classical Atelier setting, where I learned the foundations of classical drawing and painting techniques. For the next 12 years, I followed a yearly academic regimen of technical progression and certification and mastered different mediums and techniques.
Art and painting continued to be an integral part of my life after I left my hometown to study medicine in Buenos Aires in 1985, where I continued to train at an Atelier while studying at the University of Buenos Aires. My strong classical art foundation in combination with my medical studies made it possible for me to evolve as an artist with the human figure playing a prominent role in my paintings. I continued to paint when I moved to California in 1995 and have a studio in my house in Malibu where I live with my husband and daughter. Currently, my paintings focus on large figurative abstractions but I also enjoy painting abstract pieces, contemporary landscapes and still life.
Born: Argentina
Education:
Atelier Clásico de Dibujo y Pintura, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Academia Central Mendía, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina: Doctor in Medicine.
UCLA and Cedar Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA: Pediatrics
Residency and Clinical Genetics Fellowship.
Brentwood Art Center, Los Angeles, CA.
Kline Academy of Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA.