William Daniels United Kingdom, b. 1976

William Daniels (b. 1976) pushes the boundaries of photorealism into abstraction, creating paintings that hover between illusion and materiality. Claiming that “painting by its nature is just painting light,” Daniels captures the subtle interplay of illumination, reflection, and texture in his meticulously crafted canvases. His work foregrounds the tension between reality and artifice that lies at the heart of painting itself. Daniels employs a distinctive, methodical three-part process: he begins by constructing small maquettes from humble materials such as aluminum foil, paper, and cardboard. These fragile sculptures are then dramatically lit and photographed, with the resulting image serving as the...