Daniel Sharp
Daniel Sharp was born in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. He has lived in Ottawa since 1982. Sharp worked at Artspace Gallery in Peterborough Ontario (1980-82) and was Artistic Director at the Ottawa artist-run centre Gallery 101 (1989-91). From 1991 until 2017 he worked as a program officer, then manager and curator with the Canadian government's art collection for embassies and diplomatic missions abroad.
Sharp studied painting and design at York University in Toronto, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in 1979. He later undertook graduate studies in art and cultural theory at Carleton University in Ottawa (1985-89).
Artist Insight
Daniel Sharp composes abstract paintings of colour and forms, exploring geometric and lyrical abstraction, sometimes involving shaped paintings, always with a strong interest in drawing. Sharp claims that his paintings are about the sensibilities of regular life, its ordinary and remarkable aspects. His paintings are portraits of a certain time and place. While the specific elements might seem eccentric, what is affecting and interesting about them are the specific and personal colours, and the structuring and geometric organization of space. Sharp is speaking about his sense of our present time where truths are provisional and contextual. Ultimately he is trying to make interesting paintings to look at.
The artist suggests his paintings are mediations on daily experience, employing symbolic associations, different graphic styles, and sometimes the works are inspired by specific periods of art history. The paintings refer to contemporary and historical abstract painting practices in ways that include admiration and homage, critique and subversion.