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Daniel Horowitz's 365: Drawings, That Is

By Peggy Roalf   Wednesday April 18, 2012

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Daniel Horowitz is a designer/artist/illustrator who works out of his storefront studio in DUMBO’s Vinegar Hill. I recently saw his self-published book, 365, which has been selected for the forthcoming American Illustration 31, and contacted him for this email Q&A.

Peggy Roalf: The idea of a calendar that is not a grid page with numbers, and spaces to make notes, is a draw for many artists. How did this “one-a-day” drawing project germinate, and what did it take for you to make the commitment?

Daniel Horowitz: Many artists need structure to create, myself included. Trained as a commercial illustrator and art director I became dependent on deadlines and shied away from personal works that would seemingly have no ending. Simultaneously, because so much of my work was digital, I felt that i was cutting myself short by not exploring the analogue side of creativity that I left at the wayside of the expedient and well delineated work flow of the client/designer relationship. As I struggled to put paint to canvas with no assignment or art director in sight, I took the leap and made a commitment to make one drawing per day for a year. The crucial parameter being the 24-hour time frame, the piece had to be finished and published and then i would start fresh the following day

PR: Making a finished drawing every day for a year, for a single project, seems incredibly open-ended. How did you “frame” the idea—in order to set some guidelines for yourself?

DH: Yes, in fact, I really jumped off the deep end, because according to my manifesto a pencil sketch would have sufficed, However my Drawing of Day 1 was already a final piece of artwork, which set the bar fairly high. 

Because this was an exercise, I was intent on learning as I went, so it was necessary that with each new drawing I was making little discoveries. I would never repeat myself; however i did explore some themes through several drawings, either consecutively or over the series. The test was to recreate that sensation of discovery every day; the schedule helped in a huge way to force me to put the brush down when otherwise I may have pushed the piece too far and destroyed it. In other words, rather than persuing a lofty goal of perfection which can be paralyzing, I sometimes settled for “is this good enough?”

PR: Were there days when you really didn’t want to “look behind the mirror” inherent in a project of this kind? If so, how did you get un-mired when stuck?

DH: There is a certain inherent vulnerability that comes with sharing an exercise like this and in no uncertain terms this project is a glimpse into my subconscious, which at first I had no interest in peering into let alone sharing with others. As far as the actual process, there were days when I was dry and it was literally painful to create. That’s when I pulled out my old books and magazine and tried to weave a storyline into some of the ephemera that I had before me. Also I noticed that if I was on a roll, it was immensely helpful to carry that over to the next day by drawing a sketch or writing down some ideas for the following day.

PR: I often envy artists and illustrators for their ability to include animals as metaphors for the human condition in their work. Could you offer your thoughts on these stand-ins for our human failings and/or triumphs?

DH: It has always been the case that animals provide a profound glimpse into our own behaviors as well as serving as objects of transference of uniquely human behavior. I consciously use animals to readjust the imbalance that man's domination over nature implies and how destructive such arrogance really is for the world we live in. 

PR: The Venus of Willendorf has entered my own picture space during the last week or so [DART] and once again here she in Day 306. Why has this iconic figure remained so mesmerizing through the ages?

DH: I love the symbol of the fertility goddess, in fact she often appears in my drawings. I think I have a fascination with the curve of a healthy fertile woman, at the very least she is much more fun to draw than a stick figure. 

PR: Did you ever have a day when you pulled a cheap trick just to get a 365 page done? If so, how did you kick your ass out of that little trap?

DH: Well as you can imagine as the days and months rolled by I began to accumulate drawings and scraps of things that did not make the cut on the given day that they were created. Sometimes I would revive these stillborn beasts. I was very conscious not to commit something to the book that I was going to regret. I would also compensate for times when I anticipated that I would have to travel and that making an drawing would prove difficult. 

PR: Sex and love are important themes in 365. Would you want to say something about your inspiration for devoting pages to one or the other?

DH: Well I suppose the inherent awkwardness and potential playfulness that occurs when one brings together this incredibly animalistic act with one that is deeply emotional and transcendent allows for some fun drawing so I have created a Kama Sutra of sorts. 

PR: Adopting found backgrounds [old notebooks, ledgers, discarded brochures, like Day 104] is another artistic theme in 365. Please tell us a little about your use of this kind of stuff.

DH: Well, similarly to how a painter may begin prepping his/her canvas with a burnt umber or sienna tone, creating a background that is both neutral and less aggressive or intimidating than white, I find that these materials also serve such a purpose. I am fortunate to have collected a substantial amount of garbage which given the right disposition can be resurrected and have a second life.

PR: You told me that your father is a photographer. Was there ever a time in your childhood when you didn’t consider art as your future? Could you mention some of the significant influences in your childhood on your art practice today?

DH: It was never even a question. I have been exposed and subjected to art since before i could walk or talk. My father was one of the first of his generation to leave Krakow, Poland and create a career for himself in New York in the 1960's. Many Polish painters, musicians, and illustrators passed through our home. Only later did I recognize how much Eastern European art was the vernacular that was most comfortable and familiar to me. I decided to live in Poland between 2002-2006 and the legacy of the Polish Poster School again profoundly influenced my way of seeing the world.

PR: Did the expanding options in self publishing give you a boost in launching—and completing—the 365 project?

DH: Self publishing was really my only option. I would have still made the art but the book could have not existed because I didn't have money to invest in traditional printing. I visited a book fair at PS1 last summer where an artist collective that only publishes books through Blurb had a station. I was intent on seeing whether these were art books or more like wedding albums; up until that point I had never seen a convincing art book through one of these online self publishing sites, and low and behold, I was convinced on first sight that self publishing has arrived for artists with publishing projects such as mine.

PR: What advice would you give to an artist just beginning to receive some recognition, and trying to balance time and energy spent on commercial and personal work?

DH: The true purpose of the 365 project was in fact for me to learn how to nurture personal work while I continued to work on commercial projects. I had a very difficult time understanding how these two seemingly opposite worlds could coexist. In fact what I have learned is that they can inform each other very well. Treat your personal work with the same discipline as client work and you will make immense progress.

365 | Drawings by Daniel Horowitz, is on view at The Invisible Dog Art Center, 51 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY through May 5. More about Daniel Horowitz. Above, left to right: Drawing of Day 169; Drawing of Day 363; Drawing of Day 23, fall from 365.

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