Daniel Fleming currently works full-time as an illustrator and designer for The Shepherd Express and has been their main go-to designer and illustrator for a variety of outside clients, both for the paper and their internal design company, Express Creative, for over three years. He’s taken on a variety of tasks and projects throughout the years, getting hands-on experience designing everything from romance novels to trade-show booths.
Although his current full-time employment is design-based, he has simultaneously been building a career as an emerging fine artist and saw his best year yet in 2013 with multiple solo and group shows, increasing sales, and also became a finalist in the “Tournavation Pitch” alongside such big local names as Reginald Baylor and John Rippenoff. Despite continuing to work full-time, he’s steadily inching closer to his goal of becoming a “full-time artist” and hopes to progress even more in the coming year with new mural projects, show proposals, and new art/business ventures.
In the past year, he’s worked to advance his career as an artist through a variety of projects, collaborations, and exhibitions. Daniel was a member of Reginald Baylor’s “Plaid Tuba Studio” in the Third Ward until recently opening a personal studio on the East Side of Milwaukee, WI.
In the summer of 2012, Fleming helped introduced the idea, and worked with a number of local activists and artists on the FIRE!FIRE! benefit. From this, they raised over $10,000 for the artists and businesses affected by the Center Street fire, including the Green Gallery East. Daniel’s also been featured in various solo shows, including a collection of large-scale abstract work at Blutstein-Brondino Fine Art and a recent showing at Gallerie M featuring his first MKE mural.
He’s sold work to various public and private collections internationally, including the new Northwestern Mutual Building in downtown Milwaukee and the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts. In addition, He operates an art blog that receives over 10,000 views per month, has had pieces featured on the blog Hyperallergic and OnMilwaukee, and is a vocal member of the local art community. Visit his blog marionart23.blogspot.com for more details and daily updates on work and future projects.
“I explore a variety of social and political issues, creating insight into perspectives and ideas that many would not otherwise encounter. I take pride in creating work that spans various religious, political, and cultural boundaries, creating a discussion and narrative that informs the viewer of the vast world around them. With a combination of symbol, representation, mark-making, and a unique approach to titling, I provide various aspects of a topic and ask the viewer, using their own experiences and perspectives, to discover their own narrative in the work. This leads to an ever-changing and ever-growing artwork that develops alongside the people who view it. Though I call myself a painter, I use a wide variety of media and am always exploring new tools and techniques. While I almost always include painting in my work, drawing and mark-making have become an equally important aspect of my recent collections, as exemplified in this series of ink drawings and paintings.”
