Daniel
Mazzone
Canadian born and raised. As part of an artistic family, Daniel Mazzone was surrounded by a world of visual concepts and expression. His mother was an art instructor, and Mazzone became particularly interested in the composition and production of stained glass at a young age.
The youthful exploration of his artistic talents was pushed aside when he became homeless at the age of 15. Once Mazzone got back on his feet five years later, he pushed himself to explore his true passions again. Having spent so much time on the street, Daniel felt that people walking by would judge homelessness reflexively — dismissing the homeless as lazy or drug-addicted. The truth is that most suffered from mental health issues and abuse in the home.
Daniel always felt it would be beautiful if everyone carried parts of their life story on the skin like a tattoo. This way when people looked at you, they would see what you have been through and arrive with a better understanding of you. A life without judgment.
Mazzone infused this concept into his work. When creating, he wanted his artworks to resemble the stained glass of his mother's studio. Notice the thick black lines, the separation of articles in the face — the led-soldered lines of stained glass — and the bright color made to feel as if sunlight is being pushed through. Daniel finishes every piece in multiple layers of lacquer and resin, giving the surface a glass-like state.
"What I love most about my artwork, and art in general, is that there are so many ways to see it — from the very simple to the very complex. When I started working with stained glass as a child with my mother, I enjoyed the process of piecing things together, as if I were creating a unique puzzle that only I could unveil but that the world could dissect in an infinite number of ways."
"My work is physically comprised of little fragments of my subject's visual history — letters, magazine covers, newspaper articles, song lyrics — assembled and abstracted so that they integrate simultaneously into the new body of work. It creates a portrait which not only portrays the subject's likeness, but also who they were, or are, as a person."
"I have been fascinated by the act of assembling thousands of individual tiny pieces to create a whole new form since I was a child. I work freehand to carve shapes and pieces from every kind of paper. Paint is never used at all. Everything is hand cut to fit together like a puzzle. Because sometimes we focus too much on what we don't have that we fail to see and appreciate the things we already have."
A career in fragments
- Age 15Left home; five years of homelessness shape the artist's lifelong theme of a life without judgment.
- 2015Torn Apart — solo presentation at The Carriage House Center, New York.
- 2015Art Basel Miami Beach — presented at 1 Hotel South Beach.
- 2016Art Basel Miami Beach. Commissioned by Jose Bautista.
- 2017Art Basel Miami Beach. Feature on Fox Business.
- 2019Audience with the Pope at The Vatican. Scotiabank commission.
- 2020NBC Palm Springs feature.
- 2021CP24 feature. Studio expands its Heroes and Renaissance series.