A RT IS T PROF I L E S 48
PAINTING THE MUSIC Daniel W. Pinkham, Painter BY KIRSTEN RUE
D
aniel W. Pinkham is a poet of silences and glimpses of tranquil reflection; however, when he describes the moments that spur his serene, plein air paintings, he uses the metaphor of music. “Years ago,” he says, “ I would go to the rehearsals of the Long Beach Symphony and I had permission to sit in the middle of the orchestra on the floor and sketch while they played around me. In that moment—with the music all around you and the vibration of the floor—you are immersed. When I go out to paint in plein air, sit and write and listen, it’s the same feeling I get when I’m totally immersed and absorbed.” In an almost synesthetic sense, “in everything I look at, I see music and hear color. Not only the wildlife, but the grasses and the hills and the trees—they become part of my heartbeat, so to speak.” In Still Waters, Pinkham’s Red Smith Award-winning painting from last year’s Western Visions, the dappled rose, green, and gold tones of the calm evening light composition could be heard as a shimmering timpani, a riffle of flute, or the echo of a piano key as it fades into the room. Through his subtle and artfully blended brushstrokes, Pinkham’s oil paintings evoke an emotion of reverent meditation that breaks the boundary of time. Indeed, with work that references Impressionist open air painting, Pinkham is no stranger to their timelessness; he cites one of his painting masters who declared Impressionist paintings the most real, as they “release the moment from the past.” This ability to distil the spiritual heft of a subject through paint runs in the Pinkham family. Pinkham’s relative, Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917), earned notice as one of America’s first spiritualist painters. His paintings of roiling seas and gilded, mysteriously allegorical glades are famed for their gestures towards abstract modernism. For Pinkham, this makes intuitive sense as he, too, relates to the “abstract qualities that underlie the visible world…and speak to a part of our subconscious.” A frequent award-winner and Signature
2015 Western Visions | westernvisions.org
Member of the Oil Painters of America, Pinkham was nevertheless bowled over to receive the Red Smith Award last year during his second experience exhibiting as a Wild 100 artist. “Being awarded was so unexpected, so wonderful,” he says. “Really quite overwhelming—just the idea of the other incredible artists [voting to honor my painting] was almost too much to comprehend. All the work should be viewed as award-winners.” In his home state of California, Pinkham frequently paints natural coastline scenes. The artist and seven of his fellow painters have spearheaded a grassroots partnership with a local land conservancy movement. “Our visual sense is the strongest sense that we have in the body,” he explains, “so when you start
presenting images in front of people that they respond to, you don’t necessarily change minds, you change hearts.” Through the artists’ efforts in painting their own backyard, Pinkham is encouraged to see community members “see the world through inspired eyes” and take ownership of their neighborhood in positive ways including better city planning, creating walking trails, and raising funds for future conservation. “It’s quite wonderful what the arts can do,” he says. The power of art is boundless, and Pinkham assumes the humble attitude of supplicant to this power, even as he approaches the act of plein air painting with consummate skill. “Nature is the teacher and I’m, we’ll say, the scribe.”