Bio Q&A
Who am I? I'm Daniel Edlen, artist. I grew up in Pacific Palisades, CA. I went to public schools including UCLA. I also took classes at the Brentwood Art Center. I now live in Arizona with my wife, 3 dogs, and 2 little girls.
What do I do? I paint Vinyl Art, portraits of musicians and entertainers on vinyl records made by the subject. Instead of Elvis on velvet, think Elvis on an Elvis record. I also do Liter(art)ure, drawings of authors in their books.
How did I start? My dad got me into music, playing his records for me. My mom volunteered at the local library, running their booksales. Records were donated, but wouldn't sell. So I got them. I'd learned to draw and paint at the Brentwood Art Center. I had the idea in a high school art class to draw with white pencil on black paper. Then, because I had more than one copy of records by people I liked, I came up with the idea to paint them on the records. I did about 10 at that time.
Why'd I start selling them? In October 2006, a friend saw them hanging in my art studio and suggested people might buy them as Christmas gifts. The timing worked out for me to try selling them and then painting more. Through word of mouth at my wife's and mother-in-law's workplaces, I sold a bunch for the holidays.
Then what happened? I found a couple galleries willing to give my work a chance. I've sold a good number of pieces through consignment. Then I began using online marketing to promote my art, teaching myself by reading blogs and what-not that made sense to me. As so-called social media sites have grown in popularity and usage, I've been able to sell even more on commission. VEVO and the David Lynch Foundation have commissioned pieces. I've also had solo shows in New York and Los Angeles.
What's next? I'm going to continue to create Vinyl Art, adding variations on the theme. As well, I'll also work more on Liter(art)ure, marketing and selling them at some point. I've been working on more series of pieces and have some exciting local projects coming up. Really exciting hopefully.
Why does music mean so much to me? Music has always been a big part of my identity. It's an important language along with words and images to communicate with the rest of humanity. Think about what your parents sang to you as a baby, what you and your friends danced to after school, what stirs your emotions at weddings or sports games... even what you might have playing in the background now.
What else can you read about me? On my blog, you can subscribe to my updates via email or an RSS reader. I also send out a quarterly email newsletter that recaps what's been going on in my life and my art.
Anything else? Peace.
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