We recently connected with Daniel Robin Clurman and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Daniel Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Surprisingly, I stumbled into being an artist. I took one painting class my freshman year for what I thought to be three easy credits. This was one of the best mistakes I have ever made. Unfortunately for me there was no easy way to speed up the process. I needed to fail over and over again. Skill was not something I have, but I do have something which for me is far greater determination. Once I started making visual work I never wanted to stop. I believe there was always a possibility in making art that resonated with people . Over thirty years later I have not stopped.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a self taught Black – Jewish Queer artist working and living in Brooklyn, New York.
I make paintings and drawings of people I admire either from history or from social media. I am engaged in the images of people for either their contributions to social justice or for my attraction to them physically. Creating helps me to be close with my subjects, and lessens my isolation. My process begins by researching a subject through images and imagining them as part of my visual world. Once I have decided on the subject I’m going to paint, I then energize the image with color. I am not interested in reproducing the image, but really in discovering something about the humanity that hides in plain sight. The search for this humanity is developed by the marks I make and allows me to be intimate with the subject.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

During the Pandemic I developed an autoimmune disease, Type 1 Diabetes which seriously impaired my vision and is basically organ failure. In this condition, the pancreas stops making insulin, thus the body can no longer process sugars or absorb any nutrients.

I struggle everyday trying to maintain my sugar levels (by injecting insulin at least 4 times daily) and still create work. Most people will go into a coma in 10 days without insulin, leading to other harmful effects. One crucial effect is seriously impaired vision. In my case, this blurred vision lasted about 6 weeks after my diagnosis and has never fully corrected itself. This made me have to re-learn how to make visual work on a major scale.

Although there were numerous financial goals I would have liked to accomplish before I became a Type 1 diabetic, I definitely have had to make more from less. I don’t think I have let my condition be a handicap in terms of my artistic creation, but it definitely has meant spending more time and money in order to live with this disease.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Hard work.

Contact Info:

• Website: none
• Instagram: drclurman
• Facebook: n/a
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Image Credits

Peter Stanglmayr
Natasha Stanglmayr