Daniel (1982) lives and works in Leiden, The Netherlands. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with exhibitions in the Museo de la Revolución, Havana; SOHD, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen; El Pez Soluble Gallery, Tequisquiapan; Booth Gallery, New York; The Who Gallery, London; Den Gallery, Kuwait City; Thinkspace, Los Angeles; and a duo show with Phillip Akkerman in The Hague.

Daniel is co-founder of the artist initiative Arthouse which organizes myriad projects and runs two residencies (NL/MEX). In 2019 he co-founded the annual 1606 project that facilitates cross cultural connections between international artists in collaboration with PaintGuide and the University of Leiden among other local partners in The Netherlands and Mexico.

"The action of dropping a series of objects on the ground causes a consequence that in itself already has a clear aesthetic composition, but what then is the artist if not a facilitator of gravity and the work of art the outcome of this simple movement. The clear difference between chance or banality and expression is simply recognition, the paradoxical simplicity that exists between work and play, between beauty and ugliness and ultimately, between life and art. Said recognition differentiates the sensible from the pragmatic and positivistic, so, sensibility explains the work of Daniel Martin. His work, unlike many of his contemporaries, focuses on ambiguous outcomes and denies a clear objective, each piece is an exploration between deformation, decay, truth and untruth. The physical objects (which are usually randomly chosen ready-mades) or what he calls matter, are the primary medium which is manipulated during the creative process, but these objects are contextualized into aesthetic reproductions of structural patterns. The ambiguity that these finished compositions represent could be explained as a place where progress is an absolute."

By Ricardo Diaque

Upcoming exhibitions

T.B.A MAQRO, Museo de Arte de Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico

T.B.A. Boccara Art, Monterrey, Mexico

Thuis, Museum de Lakenhal, project Roos Tulen, Leiden, The Netherlands

Solo & duo exhibitions

2019 (duo) The Self, The Who Gallery x The Ministry, Hector Trend, London, UK

2019 De oorsprong, Galerie RitsArt, Maassluis, The Netherlands

2018 Forma prima, Galería El Pez Soluble, Tequisquiapan, Mexico

2018 (duo) with Johanna Franco Zapata, All you can art 3, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2017 View from another angle, Culture Fund, Leiden, The Netherlands

2015 (duo) with Philip Akkerman, Koppen bij elkaar, Sis Josip Galerie, Den Haag, The Netherlands

2014 I never lost you, Kunsthuizen, Leiden, The Netherlands

2013 Enface, Galerie Klooster, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Group exhibitions & fairs

2019

Sterren op het doek, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands

RAW (Rome Art Week), Rome, Italy

Thinkspace x Paintguide, Los Angeles, US

FNCV Art Fair, Tequisquiapan, Mexico

Bacanal, Granada Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Habitus, Galerie Sille, Oudewater, The Netherlands

Open Studio, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy

La Tarea Trece, Hercules, Queretaro, Mexico

Drieluik, Pieterskerk, Leiden, The Netherlands

Prefacio, Granada Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fris, Ars Aemula Naturea, Leiden, The Netherlands

2018

Zebra One Gallery, Identity, London, UK

Swab Art Fair, Granada Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

Bloom, Booth Gallery, New York, US

Spoke art x Paintguide, San Francisco, US

AAF, kunsthuizen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Micro Art Fair, Holland Art House, Leiderdorp, The Netherlands

Vigour, Den Gallery, Kuwait City, Kuwait

First Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

UNEAC, Matanzas, Cuba

Museo de la Revolución, Havana, Cuba

2017

Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy

Breaking boundaries, Kunsthuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Mijn schrift, LL Gallery, Leiden, The Netherlands

2016

Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Nouveau Theatre, LL Gallery, Leiden, The Netherlands

Kunstroute, Haagweg 4, Leiden, The Netherlands

Faces, van Schaik & van Schaik, Zeist, The Netherlands

2015

Arthunters x 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The new season, Gallery Sille, Oudewater, The Netherlands

Kunstroute, Haagweg 4, Leiden, The Netherlands

Face to Face, Firma van drie, Gouda, The Netherlands

No Man’s Art Gallery, Call for artist, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

What do we worship, Slangenpand, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Psycho, LL Gallery, Leiden, The Netherlands

2014

Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Kunstroute, Haagweg 4, Leiden, The Netherlands

Affordable Art Fair, Maastricht, The Netherlands

I never lost you, Kunsthuizen, Leiden, The Netherlands

Scheltema, Birth of Joy, Leiden, The Netherlands

2013

AIR 9, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Kunstroute, Haagweg 4, Leiden, The Netherlands

Enface, Galerie Klooster, Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Museum Naturalis, Nacht van kunst en kennis, Leiden, The Netherlands

Residencies

Arthouse Pani, Mexico, 2020

El Pez Soluble, Mexico, 2018

RuArtPark, Cuba, 2017

Palazzo Monti, Italy, 2017

Publications & articles

Femke van Leeuwen, drie kunstenaars, drie projecten, Online galerij, March 2019

Giulia Gregnanin, New Generation Residencies, FLASH ART, February 2018

Inside a 13th-Century Italian Palazzo-Turned-Art-Residency, AnOther Magazine, October 2017 Bianca Martinelli, Giornale di Brescia, October 2017

Donnia Ghezlane-Lala, Dark Portraits: Paintings Losing Their Identity, Fubiz, May 2016

Benny Thopson, Empty Kingdom, January 2016

Anders Dyhr, Xamou Art, April 2015

Anthony Hagan, Disposal of Human Identity, Stylenochaser, July 2015

Pirita Litmanen, REVS Magazine, October 2014

Red, LOS magazine, November 2014

Emma Willekes, Kunstenaar van de maand, Online galerij, January 2013

Renzo Candido, Kleurmakers, February 2013

Red, LOS magazine, November 2013

Red, LEVEN, March 2013

Awards

Honourable mention, Combat Art Prize, 2017

No Man’s Art Gallery call for artists winner, 2015

Shortlisted, Beers Contemporary Visions V, 2014

ArtSlant Prize, Round 6 winner, 2014