Dan McCleary

Dan McCleary brings the formal sensibilities of Piero della Francesca to the everyday moments of life in Los Angeles. A native of the city, McCleary sees his painting practice as a way of creating structure in a place devoid of formal rituals. Although his paintings depict people in seemingly mundane situations, these moments are constructed with the care and grace of an artist with keen observation skills and an awareness of the subtle interaction of form and color. All of the work is painted from life, using sets built in his studio. 

McCleary graduated from Loyola High School of Los Angeles, and attended Santa Monica College and San Francisco Art Institute in California, and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. McCleary has been featured in more than 50 solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and Europe. His work resides in collections of public and private institutions such as The Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and New York Public Library, among others. In addition to his artistic practice, Dan McCleary is the founder of Art Division, an after school arts program for young adults in the Rampart District of L.A.