Daniel Anhorn Headbones Commentary

The Drawers - Daniel Anhorn Commentary written by Julie Oakes

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Situation, Positioning, Location

Everything is allowed and all is possible when the hand is accomplished and the future bright. Borrowing from everywhere, the world is a treasure trove of images and meaning easily embedded in the disciplines of fine art. There is a transmittable thrill in Anhorn's Volkswagen vans, in the rendition of Gollum holding his ears, even in the straight and precise architectonic renderings of snow fences or show jumps.

The Volkswagens, bigger than a toy, but not quite as big as the real thing, offer the opportunity to peruse the ability to cruise. What could be a more succinct way to encapsulate the freedom of being on the move than to use the visual of a Volkswagen van? Ripe with nostalgia, wearing the badges of adventure in every knick and dent, the Volkswagen van is a signifier of a time when the weight of responsibility was light enough to be able to shed it from the shoulders and flee for greener pastures. There is wobbliness in the execution, a shimmer of movement or the nearness of anthropomorphic transformation. The vans have character. Their slightly fuzzy windows, bouncy wheels and wonky accessories grant them personalities. These are the vans that were named by their owners with a “good old” used as the term of endearment. Even the howitzer vibrates from the organic handling of the coloring.

The clear and aloof precision in the fences and howitzer pad are proof that the allowance for characterization is granted only with permission from the artist. The discipline required to detail the howitzer pad, although constrained and an evident labor to execute, is delivered with such a mechanical semblance that the effort doesn't get in the way of the appreciation of the visual. The admiration at work-well-done remains intact, doesn't impart strain but rather, a fascination with the strange superimposition of construction on the landscape - a “what a piece of work is man” sensation. That the fences are designed to hold back avalanches is an example of the exercising of control over natural phenomena, yet the presentation is unburdened by didactics. There isn't a point of view, but a visual affirmation of the right to curiosity.

Anhorn can draw - tight, cool and precise or with wit and embellishment. The strategy of changing the situation, in Anhorn's work, comes from the object utilized to facilitate the change.