artist

self-portrait
Self Portrait, Pencil, December 2001

Daniel P. Lindsey, the 23-year old Chicago-born artist, skips the couch and heads straight for my bedroom. I would offer him a drink, but he arrives with an opened can of Pepsi and is quite content with that. He removes his jacket, takes a huge gulp of soda and makes himself comfortable on my bed. Grabbing one of my pillows he says, "How long will this take?"
My best friend is lying on his back with his arms crossed behind his head. Dan (as he prefers to be called) is wearing dark, paint-stained jeans and a gray cotton, long-sleeved t-shirt. His dirty blonde hair is messily fashioned about his head, from which his blue eyes stand out.

We start the interview, laughing after I turn the tape recorder on. (We both realize our nervousness at being recorded.) With the tape recorder set out of sight, we are able to ease into the interview. He begins by describing his background in art. "I have always struggled with grammatical things, words…pictures are what I have always looked for. I could understand stories because of the pictures. So I have always been doing art, ever since I was a child. When most kids were just drawing simple circles and lines to represent humans, I would be drawing arms and legs and hair and stuff like that. When I lived on campus, my dorm room was loaded with graffiti all over the walls."

Dan began his college career in 1998 as a Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management major. "I chose that major because most of my jobs leading up to college involved the food service and restaurant environments. I love helping people, getting them what they want, providing a service, whatever that may be."

Back then, Dan realized that his grades were not what he had expected. He was struggling in his classes. "I liked doing it, not learning it."

Dan is not your average college student. You wouldn't know it looking at him, or even talking to him, but he has a learning disability. He explains it this way: "I have a disability when it comes to reading comprehension. When I was a little boy, I couldn't speak real words. It was gibberish, like my own language. My sister could somehow understand what I was saying and she would translate to my mom for me. I began speech therapy at the age of two and continued this until my family and I moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Oneida, New York, in 1986."

Drumming his fingers on his chest, he goes on to explain how he decided to study art. He was a junior in college when his father found one of his drawings in his closet at home. It was drawn on an envelope and it was so detailed and realistic that his father encouraged Dan to pursue this skill. "I never took high school art because I didn't like to be graded. If my art is good, somebody will buy it. If not, oh well, it's good to me. A piece of work begins with a thought process. I want each one of my pieces to provoke an emotion or a thought. Whatever that may be, a feeling, a thought, a question…these have to be broken down into the best image to portray this thought."

Stefan Regalson has known Dan all through college and had a hand in encouraging his friend to pursue his art. Stefan states, "Dan is an amazing, talented artist and one of the most genuine people on the face of the earth."

Dan applied and was accepted into the art program at Plattsburgh State University in 2001. Drawing seemed to be his immediate strength. "Introduction to drawing was, I guess you could say, my forte. I've tried painting, I've tried sculpture, I've tried printmaking, I've tried ceramics, I've tried photography, but drawing is my love." He adds, "Drawing is the basis of every kind of art."

Dan's professors have admired his talent from the start. Having never taken any formal classes previous to college, Dan's talent is shocking.

His background has shaped his character. Raised in a Catholic family, as an altar boy he was surrounded by order and process. "My parents definitely played a major role in my upbringing. My father is a surgeon and wasn't around much." Dan's father is also an artist. He paints at every free moment he can find. "Hopefully I'll have one of his pieces up on my wall one of these days. As for my mom, she has been a huge support. She is my critic; she has always bought my supplies, and given me moral support. If I were to break it down I would say that I probably had one of the best childhoods that anyone could ask for. My parents and my three sisters made me who I am today."

James Chiappone, a close friend of Dan's states, "If I had to describe Dan as a person I'd say he's a warm giving kid with a big heart and an infinite amount of loyalty to friends. As an artist he continually blows me away with everything he draws or paints or charcoals or whatever, I'm thoroughly impressed."
Dan thinks his best quality is his focus. "I definitely get my patience from my dad, and he gets his patients because they come to him with problems." (We both chuckle at his bad joke.) Dan has an attention to detail that is uncanny. His pencil drawings can be and are oftentimes mistaken for actual photos.

Dan's art is amazing. His drawings are like looking at a picture, amazingly clear. He has a way of using a pencil like you are looking at the object."

Discovery, Pencil, 2001

Dan sighs deeply and adds," I still struggle with courses that require me to read a lot and remember things, such as art history. I always need to have a visual version of what I'm learning." He watches movies, looks at comic books, and uses whatever means possible in order to truly understand something difficult. Dan would like to be accepted into a prestigious graduate school such as the Chicago Art Institute. "I just hope my art will speak for itself." He adds, "I am far from being the best at what I do, in my mind. Some people call me the best, but I have seen people better than me, and I know that I am not as high as they claim I am. Striving to be the best is what gives me the drive. If I were to say that I was the best, I would have nowhere else to go. If I say that I am at the bottom and I want to be at the top, then I have a long ways to go, and I'll have to push myself."

Dan's ultimate goal is to be in the history books. "I want to be like Michelangelo or Chuck Close. I want to be what other artists shape their art around. I want to be in museums, in books, in people's minds and hearts everywhere." In ten years, Dan sees himself as a professor of art at a large university. "I have noticed that professors from bigger schools have more connections, more funding. I want to teach students everything I know and I want my work to show through their work. In ten years I want to be established. I want a house and a studio. If marriage happens, great, if not, I'll have more time to focus on what I need to get done."

Recently Dan was nominated for the 2002-2003 Achievement Award at Plattsburgh State University. His work was displayed in the 2002 SUNY Art Show in Albany, New York. One student from each department at each state school was invited to this show. "I wish everyone had the time and the patience to draw like I do. I firmly believe that anyone who can express emotions can do art. Any form of art. Anyone can do anything."

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