Having trained as a scientific and medical illustrator, it is unsurprising that geological, biological and chemical processes still feed and inform Dan’s work. His practice is principally an exploration of surface and experiments in process that teeter between structure, control and self-creating organic objects. The works often inhabit a space between sculpture, installation and painting, created as much for their haptic qualities as the visual.

However these surfaces and forms are not removed from ideas, rather they are used either abstractly or directly to ask something from the viewer. They are a textural language with which to create dark visual metaphors, invite interpretation and question our historical and ongoing political interrelationships as human beings. They examine the nature of empathy and in particular the reasons we disconnect from each other and how this in turn affects our environment.

Visually Dan’s work has been greatly influenced by contemporary ceramics. particularly the textural glazes and slips that fed into his obsession with surface and the nature of materials. It was perhaps inevitable that this fascination with the medium would cross over directly into his sculptural pieces. His recent work has made increasing use of ceramics in both stand-alone works and in conjunction with his mixed media installations.