Artist Statement/ Biography

Daniel Barragán's paintings, sculptures, and artifacts concern the detection of cultural wealth and cultural mobility. His work is research based in indigenous and chicano studies with a regional scope on the American Southwest — the region of his birth. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. This conflict of geography and passion develops his work into a contemporary abstraction and geographical void — where the environment does not command authority but the interpretation of carefully placed images makes the geographical connection. The Southwest in particular has a history of conquest and division that he symbolizes and identifies through a catalogue of mined and archived photos of historic icons, contemporary pop culture and pre columbian artifacts. This catalogue makes up the bulk of his inspirations and functions as an alphabet in his own vernacular.
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Daniel lives and works in Brooklyn, New York where he received both his BFA (2013) and his MFA (2019) in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute. Daniel was the recipient of the Stutzman Family Foundation Fellowship and completed a month long residency at the Vermont Studio Center (2019). He has been chosen by Smack Mellon as a Hot Pick (2020).