Dan Pillers combines hand-crafted boxes, fabric dolls, etched glass, found objects and text in an ongoing narrative and social commentary of a gay man who has witnessed and survived decades of challenges faced by his community.  His work is conceptual in style and he displays an uncanny ability to combine words and objects in creating art as artifact with a powerful and often unnerving message. 

“I still draw from life's adventures,” says Dan “ but now, I incorporate childhood myths and rhythms into metaphors for adult experiences. I combine image and artifact with text and a cynical wit in an effort to illustrate the human experience. I attempt to convey the more universal "core" emotions around what it takes to overcome fear and the feelings of being "less than" or "different from".  His is largely an art with a message and yet it is always alluringly beautiful, albeit often with thorns. Words and allegory play a big part in the composition of his work.

Pictured Top: "Acceptance"

Pictured Bottom:"Memento Mori"