Bay Area fine artist Uriél Dana is featured in the Winter Edition of Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 32. Her oil paintings are inspired by San Francisco’s nouveau cirque culture. Uriél has said, “These are not just people in costume but represent a rich array of human talents that incorporate theater, literature, aerobics, dance, poetry and above all, mystery.” Humor and whimsy are also added to brighten the mood for what many consider dark times.

Studio Visit Magazine Feature

“For over three decades I have been known as a surrealist painter. I have also been a practitioner of Tibetan Dream Yoga since childhood as a way to control a sleeping disorder. Surrealism is defined as the mixture of two realities not normally found side by side. These two paths are intimately intertwined for me. This is how I have lived my entire life.

In 2011 I consciously began to paint people I think of as “living surrealists”. These are real people reinventing new ways to see the world. I paint them to inspire others to unleash their creativity and as a reminder to all that we can create our own, positive reality.”

You can see more of her artwork here.


Uriél Danā at the Getty Museum
At the Getty Museum

Uriél Danā has been honored for her work as a fine artist, writer, and lecturer for more than four decades. Her oils, gouache, and lost wax bronze work have been shown in 12 countries on 4 continents. She is a former U.S. State Department Ambassador to the Arts under the Arts America Program.

Her oil paintings and drawings are included in dozens of private, corporate, and celebrity art collections. In October 2015 two of her paintings were selected for the Carousel de Louvre exhibition in Paris, and she was included in the catalogue Modern Art Masters in Complex Musée du Louvre.  Her work was included in the landmark exhibit “The Otherworld” (link) featuring the history of Visionary Art. The exhibit spanned 2021-2022 at the Roland Gallery in Los Angeles’ California Lutheran College.  From 2022 to 2023 one of her drawings was featured in the Small Works exhibit at the MEAM (European Museum of Modern Art) in Barcelona, Spain.

After serving in the United States Air Force, Uriél attended Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design in San Francisco, studied Sculpture, Museum Management, & Art History at College of Marin, Kentfield, and apprenticed 4 yrs with California Surrealist Master Painter, Gage Taylor in Marin. In addition to her own art career, she was known for her painting collaborations with the late Gage Taylor under the name Taylor-Dana.

Uriél curates two fine art streams on BlueSky: of Contemporary Figurative Artists and Japanese Woodblock Prints.



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