Rising Star In The World Of Art And Augmented Reality, Daniel Leighton's Exhibition Opens At The San Luis Obispo Museum Of Art

Daniel Leighton is a Los Angeles based iPad painter, Augmented Reality artist, filmmaker and technologist. He has combined all these skills into creating cutting edge fine art. His work is about acknowledging the internal world of emotions and how it is key to finding ways to improve global issues.

Leighton will be having an exhibition of his Augmented Reality paintings at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art from April 20th to June 10th 2018. This exhibition is meant to inspire out-of-the-box thinking and solutions, promote communication, and foster self-awareness. He creates emotional landscapes with simple lines and brilliant colors to capture complicated states of the human psyche, while exploring the possibilities of technology and human emotion being harnessed for the greater good.

Leighton faced his mortality and deep emotions since he was born, because of the many traumatic medical and emotional events/experiences he’s had due to his lifelong battle with Crohn’s Disease. These experiences have given him a unique perspective on living life to its fullest and he wants to use his experiences to help others live their lives more fully. One of his biggest influences has been Joseph Campbell and The Hero's Journey, which helped Leighton deal with his trauma. Leighton's art helps people on their own hero’s journey by helping the viewer connect to themselves through discovery and exploration in a safe and compassionate way. Leighton is using Augmented Reality to revolutionize the human experience. Augmented Reality not only helps Leighton add other dimensions to his two dimensional paintings but is an important tool for the viewer to connect to their own emotions using their own device.

His work has been featured by the director of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and he has spoken at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He will be speaking on a panel at the San Luis Obispo Museum on April 21st and exhibiting 21 new works. The opening reception is May 4th.

He is looking to work and partner with like-minded people and organizations.

Exhibition Info

When:
Exhibition Length: April 20th- June 10th
Artist Panel: April 21st 2pm
Public Reception: Friday, May 4 from 6-9 PM Members-only preview 5 to 6 PM.

Where:
1010 Broad Street (on the west end of the Mission Plaza)
San Luis Obispo, California 93401

Daniel is an artist who stands for the importance of feelings—both emotional and physical. Being faced with his mortality since childhood because of illness, the workings of his physical and emotional states have become revered roadmaps as he creates emotional landscapes. His simple lines and brilliant colors capture complicated states of the human psyche and allow identification and acceptance of varied emotions.

Daniel’s art combines his four primary areas of study: art, technology, film and the human condition. He uses cutting edge technology to create art that delves into the deepest parts of the human psyche.

Art critic Shana Nys Dambrot calls Daniel’s paintings “luminous” with “a quality of rawness and intensity that is both visual and emotional.”.

With certain paintings, Daniel adds Augmented Reality (AR). AR is a technology that combines Daniel’s backgrounds in filmmaking and computer programming with his paintings. Using the Daniel Leighton Art + AR app (which Daniel created in late 2013/early 2014), viewers can experience additional dimensions of Daniel’s AR-enhanced paintings. As Shana Nys Dambrot writes, Daniel’s app, “turns your device into a viewing portal into what it is tempting to describe as a parallel universe.”

Daniel began programming on an Apple II plus in 1981 at the age of 11 and felt an immediate affinity for what was then considered new technology. In 1994, he graduated Cum Laude from UC Berkeley with a BA in filmmaking and was awarded the prestigious Regents and Chancellors Scholarship. Immediately upon graduating, Daniel was hired by Internet startup CNET and reported directly to CEO Halsey Minor. In the mid-nineties he created award-winning Web sites for Intel, Sun Microsystems, Women in Technology International and Paramount Pictures. Daniel is an award-winning filmmaker whose films have been shown at the UC Theater in Berkeley and the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

Leighton Studios
11503 Nebraska Ave
Los Angeles,CA 90025

Contact:
310-445-0614
818-458-7992