Vilma Gold is pleased to present the first London solo exhibition by William Daniels. The exhibition will comprise of five new oil paintings on board.

William Daniels’ small-scale canvases are derived from torn paper tableaux of famous historical paintings. Daniels’ begins his painting process by first constructing models and lo-fi Marquette’s from paper materials such as cereal boxes, masking tape and cigarette papers. When each model has been completed Daniels sets about the slow process of rendering in painstaking detail each of its cuts, tears and folds. The baffling complexity of Daniels’ paintings often lends a solidity and permanence to the otherwise throwaway ephemeral materials use to construct each Marquette.

In past works Daniels’ has exclusively chosen to reinterpret pre-twentieth century masterpieces including The Abbey in the Oak Wood by Casper David Friedrich, The Incredulity of St Thomas by Caravaggio and Raphael’s The Resurrection . In recent months Daniels’ has chosen to concentrate on more contemporary references and the exhibition will include four mountain studies by Cezanne, a Baselitz landscape, and a Morandi still life.

William Daniels’ slow process of working from reproductions reflects how often our experiences of the world are formed from secondary material and documentary sources. Daniels’ seems to deliberately play with traditions of painting and the notion of the artist present before his subject. Through his choices of subject matter Daniels’ painting often appear antiquated and incongruous with the nature of modern life – as if Daniels’ were nostalgic for this loss of experience. Daniels’ paintings hold a further level of complexity that is derived from their appearance as faithful copies of original masterpieces. Whilst being meticulously executed and graphically precise Daniels’ painting’s are in fact genuine studies derived from life. In this way history seems to provide Daniels with basic outlines, forms and compositions and still life’s solidify the gaps with texture and colour.

William Daniels was born in 1976 and lives and works in London. Since graduating from the Royal College of Art, in 2003, Daniels’ work has been included in numerous group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Earlier this year William Daniels had his first US solo show at Marc Foxx, Los Angeles.

For further information or images please contact Martin Rasmussen: +44 (0)20 7729 9888 or: martin@vilmagold.com