Dan VanLandingham curently lives and works in West Tisbury Massachusettes, where he grew up. He recieved a degree in painting from Green Mountain College in Vermont and The University of Wales in the United Kingdom. Dan Paints in oils "en plein air" on locations around Martha's Vineyard, allowing his surroundings to dictate his composition. His works on wooden panels and canvas depict Dan's interpretation of the landscape and common interests explored through his working process.
Time and place are the elements that the Vineyard's character is derived from. Constant physical change is unavoidable, though social dynamics remain stable. As the population continues to grow, the local culture remains grounded in historical traditions. It is these traditions that inspire me as an artist to represent through my personal connections to the place we call home.
My work attempts to capture the moments in time that are unique to the Vineyard. I take great pride in documenting the sequence of events that shape our surroundings. It is the landscapers, carpenters, fishermen, farmers, and so on, that create the backbone for the islands stability. I strive to depict these trades in their working process through oil painting. It is not my intension to fabricate an ideal landscape; it is rather to recreate the heightened visual and emotional drama that unfolds in the everyday life on the Vineyard. My work arises from a culmination of thoughts and ideas that form relationships between physical environments and the forms that inhabit those spaces. I combine various styles and techniques from an eclectic array from traditional to contemporary sources, in order to create tension between forms and space. By combining content and images from various time periods, I force them to coexist within the paintings in a unified environment.
Reflecting on the sublime, tranquility, and power of the natural world, my work examines color harmonies and romanticized visions of the way I view landscapes. Using traditional oil painting techniques, I explore different styles of landscape and figurative painting that allows me to express a sense of vagueness and uncertainty, leaving the viewer questioning the dominance of forms. This enables the work to resonate and contain multiple meanings.