It seems like an ideal time to ask the artist about his work because the Glover Landscape Prize for 2024 is specifically themed as Tasmanian.
Daniel is an Australian who creates art with a street/graffiti feel, and his paintings include Australian Icons, pop culture, and whatever exists on the quirky side of life. Does the Tasmanian landscape qualify as being on the quirky side of life?
Daniel Kotynia - From the Extreme to the Sublime
by Jo_Murphy
The word sublime means ‘of great excellence or beauty ‘ and this word best describes the work of Daniel Kotynia from Launceston, Tasmania.
The Kotynian recipe for a sensitive yet uplifting approach to painting
Daniel says that he has mixed the extreme experiences of a soldier, paramedic, and father with a bit of humour and in doing so has devised a recipe for a sensitive yet uplifting approach to painting.
The versatile painter enjoys continually pushing the boundaries of painting in acrylic and spray-can on canvas as he studies for a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Utas.
Tubthumping. Acrylic, Ready to hang
101.5cm (W) x 153cm (H) x 4cm (D)
Blue Thumb Gallery an Australian Winner!
Daniel houses his acrylic spray-can paintings in Australia's best online gallery
Daniel has been a member of Bluethumb online gallery for a year and already he has sold 43 works.
He says he sells his work to make room for more. He has 75 artworks for sale on this portal now.
This painting called Cocky shows how delightful Daniel's painting can be.
COCKY, 152.5cm (W) x 101.5cm (H) - A$1,000
Daniel says that Bluethumb has been an excellent way to enter the commercial side of art. The gallery has helped him to develop confidence. Daniel's view of the art world is that society incorrectly correlates success in art with money, but instead Daniel says he has set up Bluethumb to fund his continuing need for art supplies, and to make space for more paintings in his home.
Daniel is developing his online presence through the. Bluethumb Gallery because it is Australia’s largest online seller, they have a large audience and artists have the possibility of getting their artwork seen by a lot of collectors. Unlike Instagram, the Bluethumb audience is here to buy art not just admire it. This is the gallery Daniel has chosen, and he intends to do one thing well rather than cast his net too far and wide. Once he feels he has achieved his goal, he will diversify.
Art can be a lonely process
Getting recognition from time to time is a great way to keep motivated
Art can be a lonely process and getting recognition from time to time is a great way to keep motivated. We make art to be seen and to tell our stories and exhibitions and prizes are a great way of getting exposure and connecting with community. The Australian War Memorial acquired a series of Daniel's prints, he was well received by the Napier Waller Art Prize and his work was displayed at Parliament House, Canberra, He also entered The Henry Jones Art Prize for emerging artists.
Acrylic, Ready to hang
76cm (W) x 76cm (H) x 4cm (D)
A$400
I just enter competitions with high exposure/high recognition. They take a bit of mucking around writing artist statements and that. So I just try to get my art out to the largest audience with the least amount of fuss.
An artist finds his voice
Art is a process of well developed storytelling
Art is storytelling, and so Daniel advises not using someone else’s voice to tell a story. People want to hear you. There are something like 6000 artists on Bluethumb. Probably 2000 artists are painting landsapes, Probably 2000 artists are painting flowers, Probably 2000 artists are experimenting with abstraction. The majority are painting images around about the same size.
Break out and do something different!!!! If selling is important to you, points of different are sooooooooo important be it style, size, topic. If you are not unique as an artist, you will end up competing with thousands of other artists on technical abilities, popularity, and experience, says Daniel. . But don't forget, he advises, if you are going to sell big paintings – you need to find big boxes beforehand to post them in. They aren’t always easy to come by
Exploring Ned Kelly
Interrogating the conglomerate nature of Australian Identity
Ned Kelly And Chompfish
Acrylic (Requires Framing)
121.5cm (W) x 183cm (H) x 0.3cm (D)
A$1,000
Here is a painting of dear ole Ned whilst he was on holidays down on the coast. Fishing was a favourite pastime of his.
If you watch this reel you gain an understanding of how this theme developed
Watching the reel will also show you Daniel's way of working.
Part of Daniel is Tasmanian Aboriginal, but, parts are also Irish, French, and Polish. So he prefers to introduce himself as Australian.
As a country, comprised of a collection of people, we have created a pretty good place to live. I have seen war and been to places where there is no opportunity. Don’t get me wrong – Australia is not a place of equal opportunity but it is a place where there is opportunity.
Daniel's Ned Kelly paintings interrogate the conglomerate nature of Australian Identity… An identity that is hard to define , Daniel says that
over time truth gets in the way of a good story. Who was Ned Kelly? Daniela says that you will struggle to find and objective account of that…every story telling has the story teller’s bias. Indigenous people more than anyone know that the English side of history telling can be completely incorrect. Australia is a collection of cultures – mashed together…I will continue to investigate through art how we identify ourselves as a country.
So this is a story worth waiting for! It has been a pleasure to work with Daniel. He has been so generous when providing information about his journey that it became possible to plan a second article portraying his journey from trauma to an artistic lifestyle. It will become available soon.
Updated: 12/26/2023, Jo_Murphy
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Comments
Ha ha, I am unsure. You are right the t is not empahsised!
Thank you!
But Land Down Under-ers perhaps enunciate "couch potato" differently than Unitedstatesians...?!
My pronunciation is "kowtch po-TAY-to" even as perhaps many Unitedstatesians make it "kowch puh-TAY-to ;-D.
We certainly do! I wouldn't have thought of that now that you have said it. It makes sense.
Whoever is the decision-maker it also is interesting to ponder, Why potatoes?
Might you have the phrase "couch potato"?
Hmmm. Not sure about all of this. I need to ask.
The potato props are perfect for the photo staging.
Might Daniel Kotynia have chosen them or would that be photographer responsibility partly with the artist or solely on the photographer's own?
I'll have to ask him. I think not. He would have just out them there for the staging of the photo, jo
Thank you!
They're so attractive! Did the artist or a friend make them?
They are a part of the staging of the painting. (I think) They would show that this painting could go in a child's room. I might be wrong. all of the images are Daniel's copyright. I thought everyone would presume that but I will go back and place a note in each picture. THanks for pointing this out.
Thank you for the Blue Thumb Gallery link!
Do you know who made those four figures under his Where are my stripes? painting?