Daniel Van Klei

Daniel Van Klei has exhibited his paintings and international award-winning photography across Canada and in the US.  Born in Chilliwack, BC, he is a graduate of Simon Fraser University (1997),  B.A. (Visual Art); B.Ed (Visual Art).

Living in rural areas in BC, Daniel spent a lot of time traveling in vehicles, exploring fields and forests, while framing the shifting world through a car window.  These early experiences were instrumental in his perceptions and development as both a painter and photographer.  Later, with a private pilot's license,  these perceptions would further develop with the experience of earth from above in a different, more abstract perspective. 

Van Klei's tendency towards ambiguity and abstraction in his works are often established around more tangible yet elusive elements such as wind or water.  Deceptively simple things that everyone experiences everyday are difficult to describe without using emotional symbolic references.  Van Klei's work refers to his personal experiences of sensing a space, and all of life's elements.  He values the unknown, and questions exactly where one is going with a belief that there are no coincidences.

"One mark on a canvas determines where the next one will go."