Ctrl + S : Featured Artists
Daly Horton
(Life Sciences Illustration, 2024)
BFA, Cleveland Insitute of Art
@art.bydaly on Instagram
Published : (April 22, 2024)
Ctrl + S : Tell us about yourself!
Daly Horton : My name is Daly and I am a senior in Life Sciences Illustration. I’m originally from Silver Spring
Maryland. I'm studying to do medical and surgical illustration, I dabble in ceramics and I am a painter. I love painting portraits of friends and loved ones, and silly animals from my social media feed.
Ctrl + S : What are some of the motivations for your piece?
DH : A goal for every painting I do is to capture the subject’s essence. The grotesque facial expression and wrinkles of a hairless cat, the focus of a surgical step, the significant structures of a piece of anatomy. The
personality and focus of the painting will shine through. This was a challenge for me with this large painting with many subjects and environmental elements. “Friends at The Smoke Table” was one of the first works I made for my art exhibition The Smoker’s Etiquette. I made paintings, organized the group of artists for the exhibition, and assisted in curating. I am incredibly fascinated with social smoking. Despite smoking being a significant detriment to health, the social smoking sphere offers many positive benefits to social and mental wellbeing. Being at the designated smoke tables in the CIA parking lot has become a great joy of my life. The tables are a space to meet a variety of people, to vent, take a break, have a chat, smoke, sit in the sun, eat, play, joke, laugh, cry, etc... To simply exist, vices and all.
Ctrl + S : What is your process like?
DH : My art practice is a form of meditation and focus that I can't get elsewhere. It is so necessary for my wellbeing to be making things. My inspiration comes from the photos I take and photos I find on my social media. Highly expressive faces are my favorite to paint. Sitting down in front of a reference to study from is important. I enjoy deciding what things to emphasize and things to let fall away to allow the subject’s essence to be of the utmost focus.
Ctrl + S : Any general goals for yourself and/or your art?
DH : I always want to paint. No matter what I am doing, I will be painting. Maybe show my work in a small gallery on occasion. Otherwise, I hope to find a job doing surgical illustration for all kinds of audiences - from patient education to surgical atlas. I enjoy observing in the operating room, and hope wherever I land allows me to do that to research my projects.
Maryland. I'm studying to do medical and surgical illustration, I dabble in ceramics and I am a painter. I love painting portraits of friends and loved ones, and silly animals from my social media feed.
Ctrl + S : What are some of the motivations for your piece?
DH : A goal for every painting I do is to capture the subject’s essence. The grotesque facial expression and wrinkles of a hairless cat, the focus of a surgical step, the significant structures of a piece of anatomy. The
personality and focus of the painting will shine through. This was a challenge for me with this large painting with many subjects and environmental elements. “Friends at The Smoke Table” was one of the first works I made for my art exhibition The Smoker’s Etiquette. I made paintings, organized the group of artists for the exhibition, and assisted in curating. I am incredibly fascinated with social smoking. Despite smoking being a significant detriment to health, the social smoking sphere offers many positive benefits to social and mental wellbeing. Being at the designated smoke tables in the CIA parking lot has become a great joy of my life. The tables are a space to meet a variety of people, to vent, take a break, have a chat, smoke, sit in the sun, eat, play, joke, laugh, cry, etc... To simply exist, vices and all.
Ctrl + S : What is your process like?
DH : My art practice is a form of meditation and focus that I can't get elsewhere. It is so necessary for my wellbeing to be making things. My inspiration comes from the photos I take and photos I find on my social media. Highly expressive faces are my favorite to paint. Sitting down in front of a reference to study from is important. I enjoy deciding what things to emphasize and things to let fall away to allow the subject’s essence to be of the utmost focus.
Ctrl + S : Any general goals for yourself and/or your art?
DH : I always want to paint. No matter what I am doing, I will be painting. Maybe show my work in a small gallery on occasion. Otherwise, I hope to find a job doing surgical illustration for all kinds of audiences - from patient education to surgical atlas. I enjoy observing in the operating room, and hope wherever I land allows me to do that to research my projects.
Friends at the Smoke Table
Daly Horton, 2024