The Oneiric Art Catalog of Sir Daniel Winn

Sir Daniel K. Winn was born in Biên Hoa, Vietnam in 1966 where he lived with his family until the fateful Fall of Saigon in '75 drove them to California as Refugees. The path before him was one of academic excellence, however, his study of reconstructive surgery at UCI medical school would take a somewhat unexpected turn when he decided to pursue the arts instead as his true calling in life. Perhaps it can be said that the momentary shock that his family felt at his seemingly sudden change in direction would pale in comparison to the shock that the art world would eventually feel as he came into his own, developing a sensibility and philosophy that he dubbed "Existential Surrealism."

Winn's primary media are paintings and sculptures, something that he's been refining for decades now, with exhibitions across the world in a number of galleries, including many in the U.S. of his own ownership. In 1997 he founded Masterpiece Publishing, Inc., an entity dedicated to publishing, mentoring and promoting artists and the curation of exhibitions throughout North America and China. Aside from art and the curation of it, Sir Winn has been deeply involved with philanthropy, having raised millions of dollars in charity for different purposes in both the U.S. and Asia. His continued contributions to these issues of welfare and human dignity earned him a Knighthood vested to him by Prince Waldemar of Schaumburg-Lippe.

Sir Winn's art has achieved a great deal of recognition and has been featured at esteemed exhibitions worldwide. And his critical success has given way to financial success as well, rendering him a "Blue-Chip Artist" which, among other criteria, denotes a continued and consistent increase in value to his work.

In an interview for MyArtIsReal Magazine, Winn Describes his artistic philosophy as follows: "The style involves contrasts and counterpoints and examines the physical and spiritual dichotomy of existence. It juxtaposes the idea of a universal, creative divinity against the concept of free will and self-determination by recognizing divinity as the genesis of autonomy and acknowledging our responsibility for universally constructive action.” In praxis, what this means is a constant invocation of mechanical themes juxtaposed with organic imagery: Biomechanical tentacles and horns spring forth from early 20th-century gas masks, metallic flora blooming from fully organic bodies themselves shaped like exotic flowerpots, and human faces transmuted into ghostly Victorian clockworks. At times his art conveys the idea of the human body as a machine, at others it intuits a divine light refracted out of the otherwise cold and inert matter. More often than not, his work seems to suggest a liminal and dream-like space between those two elements, and not necessarily a conflict. But the ultimate goal behind his philosophy of Existential Surrealism is to answer these questions of universal truth: Why do we exist? And what is the purpose of life?

Sir Winn's Existential Surrealism marries Quantum mechanics in his latest Exhibit "Dark Matter" via the Winn Slavin Fine Art gallery in Beverly Hills. With an exhibition of 12 stunning sculptures, Winn explores concepts such as time and the human need to categorize and organize the seemingly random chaos of the universe into a palatable sort of order that we can each understand.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Samuel Aponte is Venezuelan-born raised and based. 

I joined Rival Magazine after a few years of doing PR work for independent musicians of all stripes; understanding their struggles to be heard in a sea of constant  ADHD noise and paywalled access to platforms, I now bring a willingness to always appreciate and encourage the effort and creativity that artists put into their work . Can also find some of my writings on LADYGUNN and We Found New Music