I first met New York-based when she was about 11 years old, and I accompanied my dad on one of his semi-regular trips to Salt Spring Island. The daughter of a friend of a friend, Danica was bright-eyed, competitive, feisty and a driven soccer player always sporting a bruised knee or two. But her creative talents shone through like a beacon even then.

Fast forward 15 years, and the 26-year-old artist has a Master of Fine Arts from the and is a 2017/18 Chubb Fellow B次元官网网址� the highest honour the school can bestow upon its graduates B次元官网网址� and she is selling art and making a living as an artist in one of the worldB次元官网网址檚 major arts centres. In February, she had a solo show of her ballpoint pen drawings in New York, while a month-long solo show of her paintings opened March 1 in Milan, Italy. In August, sheB次元官网网址檒l be exhibiting back home on Salt Spring at Steffich Fine Art.

These accomplishments are not surprising to anyone whoB次元官网网址檚 ever been introduced to the artist. But as we sit and chat now, she says it all still seems a little surreal to her.

B次元官网网址淕etting into the school was a huge accomplishment,B次元官网网址� she says, shaking her head. B次元官网网址淚 couldnB次元官网网址檛 even dream of it for a while. It felt closer to Hollywood, just a fantasy B次元官网网址� That place is full of people I admire.B次元官网网址�

The April before her program started, Danica, along with a few other students, was invited to the schoolB次元官网网址檚 prestigious Tribeca Ball, where she spent the evening surrounded by the glitz of celebrity and fashion and art. In New York for several days, she remembers finding herself in a tiny alley, watching a handful of leaves caught in the chaos of a ceaseless whirlwind.

B次元官网网址淭here was this parallel feeling inside.B次元官网网址�

Once the masters program began, however, she was grounded, fast and hard.

B次元官网网址淵our first year is boot camp,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e in classes from nine to six, work until midnight, then you go home and work some more.B次元官网网址� She smiles and a shrugs. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 stressful.B次元官网网址�

The summer between first and second years, she was chosen for a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme, where she spent two months living and working on art in an old, repurposed cotton mill, before returning to school with a new sense of urgency.

B次元官网网址淏eing in New York, itB次元官网网址檚 such an invigorating, visceral place. You canB次元官网网址檛 not be propelled by that.B次元官网网址�

Work on her thesis continued in earnest, as Danica laboured on painting after painting, as well as an eight-foot-wide ballpoint pen drawing.

DanicaB次元官网网址檚 hands fly in front of her as she tries to explain why she loves what she does, what she sees, how her work changed while in New York. She stopped painting from life and photographs, turning instead to the depths of her imagination, learned how to focus and B次元官网网址渉ow to squish the spectrum of light into the spectrum of paint.B次元官网网址�

Her pieces explore the complexities of adolescence, of connection, of that feeling of being an outsider, those B次元官网网址減ainful, awkward moments that we all pivot off of.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 love how in painting something can be two things at once,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淚t can fill you up. It can empty you. I donB次元官网网址檛 necessarily paint things I like.B次元官网网址�

Rather, sheB次元官网网址檚 pulled to give a voice to things that hurt, or are jarring.

Magnificent in their complexity, her canvases hold no playful poppies or soothing seashores to be displayed in a hotel lobby. Her work is visceral, complicated, physical, uncomfortable. She walks a line of contradictions with every stroke of colour: the sublime and the grotesque; intimacy pressed against voyeurism.

B次元官网网址淭hat dichotomy between repulsion and attraction is so important to me,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淚 walk that line constantly. I want the viewer to feel uncomfortable, to wonder if maybe she shouldnB次元官网网址檛 be looking.B次元官网网址�

Now as a Chubb Fellow at the school, Danica has the time and studio space to further explore those relationships and continue unearthing her own voice while mentoring incoming students.

The latest development in DanicaB次元官网网址檚 artistic evolution was her Italian debut at the in Milan, Italy, which ran until April 6. The solo show, B次元官网网址淭he Ghost I Made You Be,B次元官网网址� includes a significant number of her most recent works, the majority of which were created specifically for the exhibit.

B次元官网网址淭he titleB次元官网网址�comes from a Leonard Cohen lyric from a song called B次元官网网址楾reatyB次元官网网址� off his final album before he died last year,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淭he full line is B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 sorry for the ghost I made you be/only one of us was real and that was me.B次元官网网址� Leonard, a fellow Canadian, has occupied a spot close to my heart for a long time. I think he was an exceptional poet who spent his whole life clawing at what it means to be human.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭his line struck me as incredibly poignant,B次元官网网址� she continues. B次元官网网址淭o me, it relates to the power structures built in the space between people, and the slow unfolding of oneself into another person, and back. I think it relates to the work IB次元官网网址檓 doing right now.B次元官网网址�

The gallery B次元官网网址� which has purchased two of DanicaB次元官网网址檚 pieces already B次元官网网址� describes the work succinctly, as representing all of us: B次元官网网址渦ncertain and fluctuating identities suspended between amusement and latent violence, pleasure and abuses, freedom and surveillance, frustration and unexpected poetical impulses, individualism and communion.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淚 am grateful for their confidence in my work, and very much looking forward to this show,B次元官网网址� adds Danica.

Though still at the beginning of what is surely meant to become a significant and impactful artistic career, Danica has already honed in on a delicate balance of contradictions in her work, and sheB次元官网网址檚 done it through endless hours of practice.

B次元官网网址淢y process is probably brutal. IB次元官网网址檓 scrappy, like I am in sports,B次元官网网址� she laughs, and IB次元官网网址檓 reminded of her B次元官网网址淏ruise Bank,B次元官网网址� a photographic collection of her battered body post-soccer games, which she ended up felting into B次元官网网址渇uzzy badges.B次元官网网址�

Possessed of an incredible talent, kind-hearted, gorgeous, Danica has an otherworldly quality that shines through until it seems as though sparks should fly from her fingers as she talks about her passions. But thereB次元官网网址檚 no mistaking, this woman has a core of iron.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a bit of a battlefield,B次元官网网址� she says of the art world, with an offhand smile. B次元官网网址淏ut IB次元官网网址檝e always been able to make it with drive and determination and work ethic.B次元官网网址�

- Story by Angela Cowan Photography by Lia Crowe

Story courtesy of , a Black Press Media publication
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