Daniel Ballesteros

Biography
Daniel Ballesteros (b. 1980) is a third-generation Filipino-American from a family that began assimilating with U.S. culture in 1947. Never feeling like himself in the Southern-Midwest-Anglo culture in which he lived and being estranged from the culture his ancestors carried from their motherlands, he found a sense of belonging in nature. When he began taking pictures, trees drew him in immediately. Either planted by design or growing out of the cracks, in urban trees he sees society’s marginalized. Set against a backdrop of concrete rectangles they represent those in between cultures. In the Gold Leaf Trees series, Ballesteros masks all elements of nature and applies gold leaf to the rest of the image.  Buildings, concrete, and other manmade structures are obscured with gilding leaving only the vegetation visible. Each image is released in an edition of three, and because the gold leaf is applied by hand, each artwork is unique.

Ballesteros has been an artist-in-residence at the Woodstock Center for Photography, the Camera Club of New York, Bose Pacia, The Luminary, and Kala Institute. He has received support from the Magenta Foundation, En Foco, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Education
2007
MFA, Photography, University of Connecticut, Mansfield, CT

2001
BA, Photography, Webster University, St. Louis, MO

Solo Exhibitions
2019
Gold Leaf Trees, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2018
St. Louis is Liquid Gold…, May Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO

2014
Arthur Batut Museum, La Bruguierre, France

2012
Midwest Filipino, Chashama 266, New York, NY

Midwest Filipino, Mariboe Gallery, Hightstown, NJ

2010
Travelogues, College of Southern Nevada Fine Arts Gallery

Travelogues, University of Indian at South Bend

2004
SEE, Hejfina Art and Architecture, Chicago, IL, November

Group Exhibitions
2020
2020 Vision, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2019
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

2017
DeCentered, WAS Gallery, Bethesda, MD

2015
Made In Woodstock VII, Center for Photography in Woodstock, NY

2014
Alternative Process Competition, SOHO Photo, New York, NY, November

2013
New Works Exhibition, En Foco, Bronx, New York

2012
6x6x2012, Rochester Center for Contemporary Art, Small Works Show

2011
Winter Salon Show, Greenpoint Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, January

2008
Magic Silver 2008, Eagle Art Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY

Official Juror’s Selection Prize, Juror: Joyce Tenneson

2007
A Collection of Similar Houses, Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2004
Haunted, Artists Residency Chicago, Chicago, IL, November

Collections
Please contact the gallery for this information

Awards
2018
Kala Institute (artist residency), Emeryville, CA

2014
Luminary Center for the Arts (artist residency), St. Louis, MO
Camera Club of New York (artist residency), Manhattan, NY

2013
Center for Photography at Woodstock (artist residency), NY

2012
Bose Pacia Transparent Studio Program, Brooklyn, New York

Press
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Press Release
2020
2020 Vision at Richard Levy Gallery