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I started oil painting when I was 17, and continued in fine art until 2004. After a six year break I've decided to pick up the brush again in 2010 and will soon be posting new work.

While still in high school, I enrolled in a variety of art classes at the local community college, and quickly picked up oil painting. By the time high school graduation rolled around, my college painting instructor encouraged me to apply for an art scholarship at Cal State Fullerton. To my surprise I won on a unanimous vote from the awards board. I majored in painting and drawing at Cal State Fullerton and graduated with a BFA.

During college and for a couple of years after, I helped found an art community called DAB. We organized shows and held critiques for artists who wanted feedback on their work. We were a diverse group: some of us had Masters degrees, while others had no formal training. DAB was involved in the early development of the Santa Ana Arts district, as well as underground galleries in Orange and Fullerton.

Many of my paintings fall into either the Mandala or Box Painting categories.

• Mandalas are (in Jungian psychology) a symbol representing the effort to reunify the Self. They are also referred to as magic circles and have long been used in ceremonial art across cultures and time.

• The box started out as a practical way of containing the image. Eventually the less elaborate outside took on an equally important role to the art piece inside. When the box is opened, it creates a triptych similar to those used in religious iconography.

I consider all the paintings to be meditative pieces since that was the process from which they emerged. Most paintings took years to complete. I believe that art is a reflection of the person who created it. The process of painting is always more significant than the finished piece.

Enjoy the Archive!

—Dan Kaufman