Thepunkguy

I met DANIEL DANGER at Flatstock, which is an ongoing traveling poster / print show, that was attached to the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago this summer. Honestly, his work really stood out to me not to mention he had some great buttons too. Anyway, here are some email questions he has kindly answered for thepunkguy.

What is your name?

my real name is daniel john niejadlik, but only about 4 people actually know that. when i was 15 and in my first punk band in high school, we did that whole make-your-last-name-the-band-name thing and our band was called “the dangerouslys”, after the micheal keaton movie Johnny Dangerously. the name just sort of stuck, it certainly didnt help that my real last name was virtually unpronounceable. you can try, but you wont get it right unless youre polish.

Where do you live and work?

im currently residing in the woods of leverett, in western massachusetts. i have a house that i share with a few friends/bandmates/fellow artist-folk of mine. we specifically wanted a house with no neighbors and a large basement due to my facination with oversized vintage amplifers, and chris and justins tendancies towards neil-peart-ing whenever nobody is home, or whenever i have a headache and am trying to take a nap.

TAKE A LOOK AT THE STUDIO HERE>

myself and justin myer staller (a fellow printmaker and photographer) have a new studio space in orange MA, which is currently taking up most of our time and money. its coming along nicely, but has been a headache since day one. in MA alot of the former industrial cities are opening up old mill buildings as artists studios and small production shops and the such. this leads to really great artists communitys and has opportunitys for shows and small internal gallerys in an already incredibly rich cultural area. orange MA is being “developed” into a future “artist friendly city” but im fairly confident were the first ones here. theres a nice waterfront park going in across the street, and an amazing junk shop down the road with 2 floors of nothing but old analog jukeboxes though, so im all set.

the intention for this space is to be a small collective, were opening it up to other artists who want access to the equipment we have been fortunate enough to own, as well as a small permanant workplace of their own, access to other creative minds, and i think ill do more work if more people are around.

How long have you been selling your artwork for?

ive been making terrible punk rock flyers for years now, my first public outing i think would be when i showed at flatstock 4 in austin texas at SXSW. i shared a booth with leia bell and really came to meet other the other artists and hopefully stick my neck out into things. i had such an amazing time and met such amazing people that it got me hooked. my parents have been selling their work (pottery and photography) at art shows since i was a child, so i grew up literally at art shows every other weekend, so the atmosphere felt like home to me.

Do you have any exhibits running right now? Any future ones?

none at the moment, though there is alot going on in my future. justin myer and i have a split show at the A/V space in rochester NY the whole month of may. and then i have another collab show with the ridiculous rob jones at mystery city in chicago, where we will both bask in our mutual love of red and black on every possible surface. besides those, ill be at flatstock 12 in austin in march selling some wares and other assorted secret goodies.

What is your creative process?

mostly i panic. then stuff comes out.

Tell me about Tiny Media, how did it get started, who’s involved.…

tiny media empire was started by myself and a writer/musician/nonsexualmanpartner of mine stephen swift as a way to simply produce things (weither they be prints, or small books, or albums or whatever) that people might like and a way to tell them about it. we figured we should simply pool our resources. plus, he knew how to code an online store and all i know how to do is draw trees.

What is your favorite medium?

oh ill pretty much take anything. you name it, im sure its shown up somewhere. i hate oil paints though, but im sure i should prolly learn to love them.

What is your current favorite subject?

i prefer a calm yet unsettling surrealist aesthetic to my work. i like ambulances lost in the middle of snowy woods, girls turning into herons, beds floating into the sky, ghosts with meanings on a thousand different levels, and lots and lots of trees that are just too tall and dont seem to end.

How long does it take for you to finish a piece ?

usually the piece is done within a day, ill marathon it for 24 hours and forget to eat. but ill sit and stare at it for 2 weeks deciding what i hate about it and nitpicking pointlessly until someone tells me to stop.

How has that changed from your past paintings ?

it hasnt really, ive always been a fast worker. the only thing i feel that has really changed in my process over the years, besides the whole ‘finding new processes and methods’ side of things, but on a mental level, is that i have much more of a drive to really push myself and what im capable of. there are so many amazing artists working out there right now that are stepping up their game and doing incredibly inspirational work that leaves me feeling completely useless and angry that im not there on that level, but the recovery process from that hit is what makes us better. theres a certain ego-fueled side that just wants to dominate every one of them while hoping they dominate you right back.

I know you are into music quite a bit, what have you been listening to most?

recently, ive been listening to alot of newer albums to see what sticks. the new explosions in the sky, the new regina spektor (whos last album is a favorite), the new converge, that andrew bird album that isnt even really new but its new to me (3 boxes of the LP were delivered on the road to a band i was touring with last march, i snagged a copy but didnt pull it out till recently, it rules).

my tastes are all over the place, as to be expected. ive got a wall of LPs ranging from everything from neo-classical post-rock to 90s So-Cal emo to bedroom low-fi singer songwriters to IDM to brash noisey gimmick bands who wear costumes and sing grind songs about christmas and dragons. come to think of it, i think i have a few thrash punk albums that are about christmas. ‘bild a howz’ comes to mind. god i wish that band could come play my kitchen. for the sake of discussion, my all time favorite albums are..
plow united - s/t
swing kids / spanakorzo split 10″ (song below)
phonem - ilusu
jeremy enigk - return of the frog queen
the feelies - crazy rhythms
jimmy eat world - clarity
aloha - sugar
and last but certainly not leastly, converge - jane doe.

Does it effect your process? why and how?

i think its pretty safe to say it doesnt really effect my process, music carrys me through the process to occupy otherwise dead silence, but my goal and process is usually dictated by other things. it never lines up anyways, my most peaceful and calming prints were prolly created while listening to scary shouty music and my most angry and unsettling prints were likely created while listening to the go-go’s or something. once in a while ill get the same feeling i get with other artists but ill get it from someones lyrics, something so beautiful and telling that it makes me dig deeper to say something worth saying.

What is the process of working with a Musician ?

get approached about a project, agree to do the project, actually do the project, not get paid for the project, spend a year emailing the musician/band with no replies, end up buying the record from a third party just to see what it actually looks like. usually thats how it goes down.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far ?

not dying.

How does your location effect your paintings?

i like forests, i grew up in the woods. i know the big push nowadays is for really urban artwork, and i sort of find myself distanced from that. the most ‘urban’ piece i ever did declared that the city i lived in was literally making me sick. that was my farewell piece and i returned back to rural western MA. the bonuses include having windows instead of reference photos, and i could play drums at 4am if i really wanted to. i like work with solitary figures and quiet enviroments and a sense of isolated uncertain surrealism, i couldnt find that in rochester NY or NYC or anywhere really. i love travelling or touring with bands and spending very limited time in as many varied places as i can and taking in what i can, but theres always that part of me that just wants to be alone in the woods.

Are there any contemporary artists that you love? Dead artists?

jay ryan, aaron horkey, jeral tidwell, chris ware, dan mccarthy, jermaine rogers, john howard, judge, myles karr, jordan crane, and a ton others im sure ill regret forgetting. those are the people nowadays who are kicking my ass and making me try harder. oh, and bill watterson’s entire catalog. as for the dead ones; e.h.shepard, john tennial, alphonse mucha. pretty much anyone who can draw a good looking tree or a good looking girl.

What do you think of the current state of Art in the US?

when people talk about current happenings and names in modern art, i tend to smile and nod alot. i tend to keep to myself and you can only learn so much on the internet. theres a loop and im out of it. theres alot of things that i see that make me so happy and excited that someone can be so brilliant. and theres a lot of awful trends i really wish would just dissapear from the earth, which mostly relate to the trends of ‘being an artist’ rather than the art those people sometimes make. but art is art, purely subjective on all fronts.

Can we buy your paintings / sketches / prints anywhere?

i have an online store at tinymediaempire.com, but really the best way to get a hold of things is to get on my mailing list, because i always sell to them first, and sometimes things dissapear before the general public ever see’s them. theres also a few places that carry prints and shirts of mine, postersandtoys.net being one. oh and theres ebay, but im not the one putting things up there…

Anything that people should know about that we don’t??

i make a tuna melt that can stop wars. it says so on my resume.

Any last words?

” i saw doves and i thought they were rocks, but they were asleep. my breath made them stir, and the rocks took flight, the earth exploding…and my only thought was that i wanted you to see them, too.” - douglas coupland

“youre right, a robot would have to be crazy to want to be a folk singer.” - bender the robot

-dd

A song from one of Dan’s favorite records: Swing Kids - Disease
HIS SITE.

THANKS DANIEL.