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  • Daniel T. Lopez

THE ART OF DANIEL T. LOPEZ

I was born September 13, 1940 in Los Angeles, California. I moved to Fresno as a young child and lived there throughout my childhood and college years, where I earned my B.A. at CSU Fresno. My parents worked in the fields of Fresno, picking the crops in season. My mother, when not working in the fields, stayed at home raising and caring for eight children. I was the only son, born second in line. My parents raised us with love, devotion, and dignity. My family bonds grew strong. Work and play were uniquely woven into a fruitful family life.

My early artistic ability, while still developing technical skills, propelled me to think of my world in colors and shapes, in geometrical patterns, and multi-dimensional configurations. These are my earliest recollections of exploring the world around me, past its obvious physicality. Thus, I began to search for deeper understanding of my world and for a deeper spiritual meaning concerning my place in the cosmic whole of humanity. The Vietnam War interrupted my education. I was drafted in 1966 and after basic training, I was immediately sent to the front lines in Vietnam. I served as a Combat War Artist during my stay there. This brought me closer to the horrors of war and the killing of both innocent people and many soldiers that fought beside me. I portray many of these experiences in my Vietnam paintings, a series of twenty canvasses, 4 ft. by 5 ft. each. Upon completing my service in the Army, I continued my education, earning my Master’s degree from the University of Southern California. Soon thereafter, I entered the field of education, while always continuing my artwork. I am currently retired, after nearly forty years teaching, but today, I continue with my artwork. I found my niche in a variety of art forms, but I have devoted much of my work to painting murals. These can be seen throughout Sonoma County, California, where I have now lived for four decades.

My interest in art developed in childhood. One memorable moment is the art contest I entered and won in elementary school. I was in the fourth grade and winning sparked my ambition to become an artist. Even as a young child I looked for interesting ways to challenge my budding artistic skills. I remember my mother accompanying me to the local junkyard and together we combed through the junk looking for unusual and odd-looking items. We found such wonderful treasures, which I used to create art pieces. I began to think about ways art expressed the inner beauty that I felt about life, beyond that which my ordinary words could not describe. It became obvious to me that through art I was finding expression for an inner, deeper understanding of life, as it touched me every day. My home and environmental surroundings filled me with wonderment. The ordinary things I pondered allowed me to see the underside of them, in ways that ordinary things became extraordinary. My artistic expressions became a reflection of my inner sacred self; thus, art became my vehicle for discovering that everything around me could be honored through my artistic work.


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Daniel T. Lopez, Self-portrait, acrylic, 2011

I am drawn to aesthetics that express supreme beauty, such as Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” Bernini’s “Ecstasy of Saint Teresa,” and Dalí’s “Christ of Saint John of the Cross.” That which evokes thought, like Goya’s “The Third of May,” Picasso’s “Guernica,” Theodore Gericault’s “La Balsa de la Medusa” and Alfredo David Siqueiros’ “Torment of Cuauhtémoc,” inspires me. While the themes of these [End Page 189] artists vary, they capture and convey a deeper sense of who we are as human beings. They take us beyond a physical sense of self, to a place where we can examine the very essence of our being. Whether it is a search for life’s deeper meaning or a depiction of human struggle to free oneself from entanglements, the artists put it all before us, be it in its full beauty or raw reality...

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