Daniel Gerhartz was born in Wisconsin in 1965, where he now lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their five children. His interest in art piqued at an early age when a teenage friend suggested they spend one dreary afternoon drawing. It was at that moment that he discovered his life work. Gerhartz began his art education at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After a brief stint in commercial art, he began pursuing fine art, visiting museums to study master works and painting alongside contemporary artists.
About his work, Gerhartz has said, “My goal is to effectively record the richness of our human experience, the contrasts between life and death, the dance and dirge, the beautiful and common, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, while in the end offering a message of hope. As I paint my subjects from life and have the privilege of studying the awe-inspiring breadth and depth of the beauty of the created world, it is humbling to ponder the greatness of our Creator.”
Gerhartz has been featured in solo and group shows across the country and has been collected both nationally and internationally. He has received awards at Prix de West and many other prominent national invitational exhibitions, most recently first place in Imaginative Realism at the Art Renewal Center 2014/15 Salon for When Hope Comes.
