Artist Statement:

I have been a kinetic artist for well over thirty years.

In the 1960's, I could see many screen paintings on windows and doors in the Canton and Fells Point areas in Maryland. I was very much influenced by this way of dispalying art. So I started painting screens in the late 1960's and early 1970's.. This is an example of this period:




In the early 1970's, I also experimented with my first kinetic paintings. I used multi-layered screens in my kinetic paintings. The motion in the painting is actually created by the spectator.

I also created many other screen paintings, pencil drawings, and canvas paintings using acrylics during this period. Here are but a few examples.

Later in the 1970's, I used the reflective properties of plastics. The motion in this example was also created by the motion of the spectator and the reflective properties of the plastics.

In the early 1990's, I started experimenting with actual motion. These paintings have actual motion using motors. This is similar to spectator motion, but now the motion is created by a physical (mechanical) means. You can't see the motor or the large wheel behind the painting. What you do see is an array of moving patterns going through the painting. This created the realistic effect of the water flowing, and many other effects as well. Here are two examples of this period.





In 1995, I met Ulrich Niemeyer, Director of Design Foundation (now Visual Communication) at Northern New Mexico Community College. He was starting a new program for artist using the computer. I was hooked. In 1998, a local newspaper noticed my moire animations and published my work in the Rio Grande Sun. Then I met Dr. Drake Bingham, Director of Mass Communication at New Mexico Highlands University. He allowed me to develop the art form for my graduate work. For the first time, I was able to incorporate my early knowledge with kinetic painting with the computer.

So in 2003 for my graduate work, I completed my first work using window screens and a computer controlled plasmatron monitor. The video-animation, playing in the plasmatron monitor, is seen through a pair of window screen paintings. The monitor and the two screen paintings are all enclosed within a frame. This constitutes the kinetic 4D painting. The combination of window screen paintings and computer controlled video-animation is the culmination of over thirty years of growth as a kinetic artist. Here is a still photo example.



Moire Buffalo_Plasma, 2003
Dimensions: 28 x 43 x 7.5

Also at this same period of time, I started experimenting with computer controlled rear-projection systems. I used the rear-projection systems at Northern New Mexico Community College to display an animation through my screen paintings. This was a fairly large kinetic painting (54 x 72 approximate size). This was also duly noted by the local newspaper "Rio Grande Sun" in 2003.

Then in 2005 participated in a group artist’s show at the RampArt Gallery in Tacoma, Washington. This was my first time being represented by a Gallery. So I decided in memory of my mother, the only person that has ever believed in me, to change my name to Danny Thom. My mom loved to watch the sitcom actor Danny Thomas. In 2006, we had a group show opening at the RampArt Gallery called "Renaissance".

This is an example from that show.