Daniela Yohannes
Untitled, 2016.
About:
Daniela Yohannes (b.1982) is an Eritrean/Ethiopian artist. Yohannes recieved a BA (Hons) in Illustration from Kingston University in 2004. After completing her Degree and working within the field, she decided to make the transition from digital to material canvases in 2010. Her practice combines painting, collage and illustration techniques. Yohannes is an emerging artist whose work resonates with her acute cultural sensitivity to the often unseen dimensions of life. Yohannes currently lives and works from her studio in Paris.
Untitled, 2016.
STATEMENT
My work explores themes of new myth, the dream world, the supernatural and the cosmos. I’m inquiring into the unknown, making the characters in my paintings confront the void, and enter it. I rely on my intuition and dreams as a direct source of storytelling.
Untitled, 2016.
My paintings allow me to explore fictional narratives, enabling me to remove all concrete limitation and boundaries. I paint characters that are facets of myself, but not earthbound. In this way I truly liberate myself from social constructs. I am drawn to the threshold between life and death and my paintings often project this great duality.
Untitled, 2016.
My practice has enabled me to turn inward. I make art to try and understand myself, my environment and the greater world beyond. I work with collage and often create characters using beauty magazines from which I deconstruct editorial photos. Once created, the character then dictates the painting. This is the process I enjoy most – allowing the character time to reveal itself to me and lend me the narrative to follow.(text website artist)
