Dana Bean is an illustrative painter and collage artist living in Los Angeles, CA.  She lived in Johannesburg, South Africa and Denver, Colorado as a child, before settling with her family in Southern California at the age of 11. 

Dana attended the University of California Los Angeles, University of East Anglia, and CSUN, and has continuously studied art through courses at the Thousand Oaks California Art Institute, Art Center College of Design, and Barnsdall Art Park.

Dana’s work explores the anxiety caused by modern living, depicted with a playful and often dark humor. Notable influences include Egon Schiele, Eric Carle and Os Gêmeos. Her work has been featured in various exhibition spaces and publications, including Craft and Folk Art Museum, Loft at Liz’s, LA Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall, Black Maria. Her images have also been featured as album artwork for the bands Novi Split, Leerone, and Lyra.

Artist Statement

Anxiety is a plague of modernity. We all feel it.

We are overwhelmed by the whir of a lightning quick world – packed with gadgets, deadlines, bills and growing collections of stuff.
We have a deepening obsession with what is ours and what is owed.
We are propelled and pinned by the weight of all the lives we could be living.

From these thoughts, I began creating oil paintings in 2004 that reflected my feelings of isolation from the natural world and from myself. Solitary characters became a prominent feature in my work. As I shifted away from oil, my pieces became more playful, and my isolated figure became anthropomorphic over time – natural characters in unnatural settings. 

My recent collage work appropriates and dissects images found in pop culture magazines; I use both found and original imagery to piece together elements of childhood and adulthood; love and loneliness; nature and construction; nostalgia and modernity. My work also addresses the burden of always seeking something more. 

• WORK OVER SCHOOL: Art From The Margins Of The Inside, group show curated by jill moniz  CRAFT AND FOLK ART MUSEUM Los Angeles September 2016
• NO BUDGET FILM FESTIVAL Los Angeles CA October 2015
• DD7, group show curated by jill moniz, THE LOFT AT LIZ’S Los Angeles CA  June 2014
• NO BUDGET FILM FESTIVAL Los Angeles CA September 2013
• NO BUDGET FILM FESTIVAL Los Angeles CA September 2012
• BROKECHELLA at the AIRLINER Los Angeles CA April 2011
• ECHO CURIO Los Angeles CA October 2009
• DALESSIO GALLERY Los Angeles CA May 2008
• ZERO-POINT Los Angeles CA January 2008
• IL CORAL Los Angeles CA November 2007
• APARTMENT 3 Los Angeles CA October 2007
• ECHO CURIO Los Angeles CA March 2007
• ECHO CURIO Los Angeles CA January 2007
• ECHO CURIO Los Angeles CA November 2006
• BIRD CARNIVAL LOGAN AUDITORIUM Chicago IL August 2006
• BLACK MARIA GALLERY Los Angeles CA May 2006
• HANGER 1018 Los Angeles CA March 2006
• HEAR GALLERY Los Angeles CA March 2006
• HEAR GALLERY Los Angeles CA  January 2006
• ADM PROJECT Los Angeles CA  January 2006