Dan Castranova

Chicago, Illinois

These days I work mostly in drawing, mainly analogue albeit having a digital edit here and there. For the most part and as of lately, I aspire to make whatever suits my interest at the time, occasionally returning to painting, print-media, and video. I draw portraiture/“fanart,” as well as collage-like scenes that explore dreams, identity, conformity, dualism, and ambivalence.

I am heavily influenced by much of the media I consumed at a young age as well as the stuff I take interest in now, thus including various manga and anime, cartoons, video games, music, and so on. My work and style is also inspired by fine artists such as Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Frank O’Hara, Neo Rauch, and Ashley Wood. Other sources of inspiration include David Lynch and Yasujiro Ozu films, miscellaneous kung fu movies, film noir, mysticism, Post-War America, scouring antique malls, and an assortment of other random things old people like.