ARTIST BIO
Dan Lopez is a photographer and art director based in Los Angeles. His photography has been the subject of two photo books, Constellation Road (Bywater Bros., 2017) and Smoke Room II (Smoke Room, 2014) and his work appears in the definitive photographic survey of LA Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles (Metropolis Books, 2015). Lopez's photos have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, the Time Magazine LightBox and HuffPost, and he has exhibited at several galleries and museums including MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary, The Main Museum, The Elizabeth Houston Gallery, Les Rencontres d'Arles, Venice Arts and The Perfect Exposure Gallery. Dan studied Fine Arts and Cinema/Television at the University of Southern California.


ARTIST STATEMENT
My photography explores the symbolism that can be found in everyday objects and the latent humor hidden in the most ordinary scenes. I’m driven by the act of slowing down and finding connections between details. 

As a Los Angeles native, I’ve grown up surrounded by contradictions, where opposites often exist in perfect harmony. In this environment, I’ve found that dream and reality frequently overlap, and my work explores what Surrealist André Breton referred to as a “super-reality”.  Both of these spaces can be extremely isolating, as a dream can only be truly known by the person who is dreaming it, and similarly, reality can only be experienced on an individual basis. My photography is a solitary practice, and through it I explore how isolation can bring both despair and freedom.

Color is also an important part of my practice, and I’m interested in examining the impact that it has in two specific areas: first, as a means of drawing the viewer into an image that is not conventionally “beautiful”, and second, as a way of independently provoking emotion, as demonstrated in the works of Mark Rothko and Joseph Albers.

The modern world has become increasingly fragmented, and my work explores the ways in which we as humans attempt to make sense of space and place in this evolving landscape.


CV

EDUCATION
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
BA: Fine Arts | Minor: Cinema/Television
Emphasis: Photography and Graphic Design


BOOKS
2017 Constellation Road, Bywater Bros. Editions
2015 Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles (anthology), Introduction by David Ulin, forward by Ed Ruscha, Metropolis Books
2014 Smoke Room II, Smoke Room


SELECTED PRESS
The Los Angeles Times
Time Magazine LightBox
Purple Magazine
Feature Shoot
LensCulture
D.A.P. Artbook
Month of Photography Los Angeles
Elizabeth Avedon Journal
HuffPost
Focus Photo LA
LENSCRATCH
This Isn’t Happiness
aPhotoEditor
The Eastsider
LA Art Party


GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Office Hours: In Focus - online exhibition curated by The Main Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Focus Photo LA at Les Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, FR
2018 Instagramland, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 MOPLA Photo Book Exhibition, Venice Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Office Hours, The Main Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2017 Focus Photo LA, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York, NY
2016 Photographic Language, Lark Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Instagramland, The Perfect Exposure Gallery, Los Angeles, CA


APPEARANCES
2018 Constellation Road artist talk, Armory Center for the Arts
2018 Constellation Road artist talk and book signing, Venice Arts
2017 Constellation Road book launch and signing, MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary
2015 Both Sides of Sunset: Photographing Los Angeles book launch and group signing, Paris Photo LA, Paramount Studios Back Lot
2014 Smoke Room II book launch and signing, MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary