Daniel Bilmes had an interesting youth, one that continues to shape his evolution as an artist today. The son of Azerbaijani American painter and teacher Semyon Bilmes, Daniel’s Russian-born parents impulsively left New York for a remote area near Ashland, Oregon, where he was homeschooled for much of his upbringing. After time abroad in Turkey and on the Mediterranean island of Cypress, the family returned to the Pacific Northwest, where Semyon Bilmes founded the Ashland Academy of Art. At 9 years old, Daniel was painting alongside his father’s adult students and, by 15, he was teaching them.
Wellspring, oil on panel, 8 x 16"
Daniel thrived in the academy environment. It was the closest he had known to a traditional classroom experience and he found he enjoyed being in the company of adults. It also provided a structure that allowed for a broad exploration of varied techniques and surfaces—and to delve into the more conceptual aspects of process—as he looked for ways to translate his affinity for drawing into oil painting.
Ever since, Bilmes’ evolution as an artist has been a result of deep personal inquiry into, and refinement of, preference and process.
“The most natural and unique styles come out of a process that is true for the individual and works for the individual,” says Bilmes. “I needed to develop a unique process that was in tune with who I was, style being derived from technique, rather than technique imitating a style. I was really deconstructing my technique with charcoal and applying some of those stylistic elements from drawing to painting, and marrying that with my personal interests in color harmonies, texture and subject matter.”
Metamorphosis, oil on panel, 22 x 10"
His latest body of work, the subject of a May exhibition at Arcadia Contemporary, demonstrates Bilmes’ highly distinctive aesthetic—dreamy, soft figurative scenes where realism dissolves into abstraction, the mark-making of drawing prevalent on his canvases.
Thematically, the series explores myth and archetypes, the timeless universal stories, variations of which can be found across disparate cultures. Bilmes offers his own interpretations. “I’ve always been fascinated with certain patterns and interests that people have had since [sitting around] fires and painting on cave walls. I wanted to explore mythology and the archetypes in the stories people tell each other throughout time. It’s the way our ancestors viewed the world, and I think it’s still relevant even though people view it differently now. I’ve enjoyed reinterpreting or coming up with a new version of a story that has inspired people for generations.”
In Metamorphosis, a winged woman emerges triumphantly from a tornado-shaped chrysalis hovering over the hull of a simple skiff, against a continuum of blanched sea and sky. “I was really wanting to paint wings on a woman,” explains Bilmes. “That one, again, comes back to the idea of transformation—that feeling of transition, transcendence into another state, a higher state. It’s the feeling that drives it and subject is around that.”
Winsome, oil on panel, 14 x 14"
Wellspring, in which a girl gazes into her watery reflection while two beasts crouch on their haunches to drink, could be an illustration in a Grimms’ fairy tale.
“I think transformation and transition and evolution [are themes] in both my work and personal life. In the world as well as on a personal level, the rate of change has become so exponential…it can be exciting and daunting,” he says. “This could be why I’ve revisited historical material and root my subject matter in something timeless. I think there’s a natural human craving for the timeless and I think, through art, ideas and stories we can feed that to ourselves. That duality of the ever-changing world and the human condition…I don’t think really changes that much. Human instincts, impulses, cravings, goals, dreams, fears—they’re all pretty timeless.”
Bilmes’ show Mythos opens in New York City on May 15 and remains on view through May 30. —
Arcadia Contemporary 421 W. Broadway New York, NY 10012 • (646) 861-3941 www.arcadiacontemporary.com
Powered by Froala Editor
