My character in the red and white striped shirt is the vehicle for my ideas, navigating an adventure that unfolds on a subconscious level within the vast, open world of my imagination. I see creativity as an endless landscape - free, unpredictable, and filled with possibilities - where ideas emerge unexpectedly and take shape through exploration. These paintings visualize my artistic process, capturing the push and pull of creativity, the tension between structure and impulse, calm and chaos. My character moves through this “realm”, encountering the good, bad, and bizarre ideas that form in the depths of my mind. Through these works, I am exploring what it feels like to create and to step into an ever-shifting world of imagination.
Daniel Rona is a self-taught painter, illustrator, and muralist who works out of Blockfort studios and gallery in Columbus. Born and raised in the Hilliard and Columbus area, Rona discovered his passion for painting during high school at Hilliard Davidson from his Highschool teacher, Dan Gerdeman. Since then, he has honed his skills at expressing his inner world and visualizing his thoughts through his art. Originally interested in graffiti, Daniel uses his signature character dawned in red and white stripes, as his identifying signature. Daniel has been represented by the Sarah Gormley Gallery in downtown Columbus since 2018 and participated in several shows within the gallery space during that time.