Dan was born and raised in central New Jersey where he grew up with a passion for anything to do with horror. Early on reading old horror zines , comics and books as well as an unhealthy amount of watching television. This sparked his interest in art, wanting to create his own monsters. He spent his teenage years doing art for friends and bands until he moved to PA for quite a few years where art had taken a back seat to life. In the late 90’s he began to feel the urge to get back into art so he started to pick up oil painting.
Never having any formal training it was a long process but he loved every minute of it. He eventually began to get jobs doing CCG art and magazine and book covers here in the US as well as Europe and Canada. He eventually moved back to NJ where he still resides continuing to paint and work in fine art restoration.
However, Dan has never been content with his work ” I feel like I was always so suppressed by creating what publishers and game companies wanted to see that I began to get stale with art. I never really painted something I thought was cool. The past couple of years I have begun to paint what is inside me and I am excited about where my work is heading!
Exhibitions:
2010
August: “Fictitious Pulp”, Hyaena Gallery, Burbank, CA
July: “The Black Plague”, Congregation Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
June: “A LOVE CRAFT: Art Inspired by Monsters, Madness and Mythos”, Observatory, Brooklyn, NY
June: “Fables and Follies”, Alternative Cafe, Seaside, CA
June: “A Buffet of Lowbrow”, Art N Soul Studios, Allentown, PA
May: “Voices in the Bardo”, Shadow’s Space, Philadelphia, PA
March: “The 8th Deadly Sin Art Show”, Congregation Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Feb: “The Devil Made Me Do It”, WWA Gallery, Culver City, CA
2009
Nov: “The Second Annual METAL Art Show”, Congregation Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
June: “Everyday is Halloween”, The Parlour Gallery, Burbank, CA
May: “Edgar Allen Poe”, The Parlour Gallery, Burbank, CA
April: “The Gruesome Art Ghoullery”, Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors, Los Angeles, CA
March: “This is the End”, The Alternative Cafe, Monterey, CA
2008
September: “Funky Flea”, Om Baby and World Arts Studio, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
August: solo show, Art n Soul Studios, Allentown, PA
Interviews:
Press:
July 2010 Issue of The Horror Zine
Featured artist for October at Creep Machine
May 2010, Rue Morgue Magazine 100th Issue.
Snippits
“Dan Harding is GENIUS!!! One of my favorite Modern Day Dark Artists and he is 100% original in his ideas and also his execution of theme, motif, and layout. The painting has elements of dark pop, dark surreal and macabre and horror so unique and strange, Dan just keeps pushing the envelope more and more! Notice his detail as well, his ability to mix Old Master technique with Illustration, etc, gives his work a new form of nuance in the Fine Art Spectrum!” Keith Wigdor