Dan Moran: The Dark Arts

I have been drawing since before I can remember. I was always moved to draw not in order to represent things, but to express from within. In my adult life, I have come to enjoy sketching parts of the world around me as well as drawing forth (literally) elements of the world within me. I am self-taught as an artist; my undergraduate degree was Liberal Arts, and my three years of grad school earned me an M.A. in Philosophy and Religion. My art has mainly been for my own edification and to communicate to others, and has not been a profession (I am currently an editor). In recent years (I am now 32), I have been thinking more about getting my art seen by others and also selling some of it. At this point, I have done a number of commissioned portraits and illustrations, and would like to continue with this. I have also established a web site called Art of Darkness.

It would not be correct to say that my art is influenced by such-and-such; I haven't seen all that much artwork of others, never really studied art. There are a couple of artists whose work I really enjoy: Albrecht Duerer, Gustav Dore, Caspar David Friedrich. But my soul has been influenced by many things, which show in my art -- primarily Romanticism as a whole. I am both Faustian and Promethean. Besides the poetry of Yeats, Byron, Poe, Goethe, Novalis, and Villon, I have been marked by the writings of Lovecraft, Kafka, Burroughs, Joyce, and Nietzsche.

And a big thanks to Strange Horizons for showcasing creative and expressive pieces! Enough of all these pseudo-galleries that cater to people shopping for living room decorations!

Contact Dan by email.