Art
by Michele Malinchak
The Carversville studio where Daniel Anthonisen paints is spartan. There are two chairs, a folding metal one and a tattered upholstered one with its foam pillow exposed. Rolls of canvas lean against the wall and a shredded rubber tire hangs from metal shelving. Dangling from a pole is a boot with feathers tucked inside, while a baseball, turtle shell and deer antlers share space on a dusty table. The assorted objects are often painted into his scenes, but the real source of his inspiration lies just outside his door.
Nature is at the core of all his paintings and though he frequents his studio, he prefers being outdoors capturing the energy of his surrounds. The artist, who lives in Point Pleasant, can often be found dressed in camouflage sketching and painting on the Delaware River, Tohickon Creek or Ralph Stover Park in Tinicum. “It is a natural high for me to be by or on the river or like place,” he said. He refers to “rivertime” as eternal—a place where past, present and future come together.
His stirring, often transcendent landscapes reflect his reverence for the outdoors. In “The Area Guide Book 2008,” Bridget Brier wrote of “his innate ability to render the substantive transparency of water.” Gallery owner Lauren Travis said she was drawn to his paintings because of their atmospheric elements. "He paints the actual air, the quality of the air . . . that heavy, cloudy, misty quality that the air often has in the Bucks County area." His riverscapes arouse the sense of sound and touch as well. One can almost hear the rushing water and feel its coolness.
“I am intrigued with the familiar,” Daniel said. “The way things come out of the ground, the moving water, the unpredictable patterns of leaves and rocks and how it’s all woven together and changing at the same time.”
The artist’s love of nature was instilled at an early age. “One of the great teachers in my life was Dave Knudsen who ran the wilderness camp I attended as a teenager,” he said. There Daniel learned about Native American culture and the teachings of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.
At the wilderness camp in Ontario, Canada he was introduced to the medicine wheel, which he has integrated into one of his more recent works. The large four-by-four foot painting features High Rocks in Tinicum with Tinicum Creek flowing in a star-shaped pattern. In the center is a multi-legged lion and just below it a birdhouse, images found in other paintings by him. The surreal scene is largely seen from an aerial view, but, in the foreground, rocks and vegetation form a labyrinth of pathways drawing in the viewer. The untitled work is an under painting in its early stages and embraces the unknown.
To continue reading this article turn to page xx in the Spring 2015 issue of Bucks County Magazine.