Dan McCleary

Dan McCleary is regarded by the longtime Chief Art Critic of the LA Times, Christopher Knight as, “one of the finest figure painters working today.”

McCleary has consistently employed classical methodologies and devices like the golden mean, as well as the fundamental building blocks of design- cubes, spheres, cylinders and cones- to create seemingly simple compositions that contain the gravity, structure and balance of a Piero della Francesca. He always works directly from life in his studio in MacArthur Park, which has a single wall of windows. Thus, his still-lifes and portraits always reveal the same light source, emanating from the left side, illuminating a quiet figure like Vermeer,  a still life with the humble dignity of Morandi, or a floral arrangement with the graceful attention of Manet or Fantin-Latour. A native of Los Angeles, McCleary sees his painting practice as a way of creating structure in a chaotic place that appears to be devoid of formal rituals. Although his figure paintings depict people in mundane situations like painting their toenails, weighing themselves on a scale, or sitting in a coffeeshop pouring sugar in their cup, McCleary’s classical, columnar, Doric purity elevates these scenes with a timeless solidity.

His etchings are rooted in 25 years of practice at the Taller Sanger in Oaxaca, Mexico, and his large-scale textiles made with felt, known as afelpados, were created at Casa en Etla in Oaxaca. The etchings were the subject of an exhibition and catalogue at the USC Fisher Museum of Art and the Instituto de Arts Gráficas de Oaxaca. McCleary also founded a non-profit art school called Art Division, for under-resourced young adults in Los Angeles in 2010.

McCleary studied at Loyola High School in Los Angeles, Santa Monica College, The San Francisco Art Institute, and attended the Skowghegen School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. His work has been featured in more than fifty solo and group exhibitions across the United States and Europe and is included in the collections of The Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, LACMA, The Met and the NY Public Library.  He is represented by Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica.