In this new collection of paintings, Daniels has delved deeper into the surrealist aspects of his works.
Often fusing unexpected elements, his juxtapositions may seem arbitrary but on closer inspection the pairings reveal connections. For example, in the painting Mouse Trap a snake precariously coils itself with blocks of cheese, alluring its prey. Or Daniels’ iconic floating tortoise paintings which contrasts the heavy and roughly scaled reptiles to the smooth weightlessness of the manmade balloons. Both the tortoise and the balloon share a quiet stillness in their natures, moving slowly through their individual environments but there is a poetic contrast in the longevity of a tortoise’s lifespan compared to the impermanence of a balloon. The artist often describes his work as jokes that nobody ‘gets’ and this is alluded to through the playful and sometimes flippant titles.
