Daniel Edlen

{{Short description|American painter}}

File:Daniel Edlen creates art on the artifacts of creativity, photo by Zane Ewton, 2010 2014-07-08 15-53.jpg

Daniel Edlen (born November 18, 1975) is a visual artist known for creating vinyl art, portraits of musicians and entertainers hand-painted on their vinyl records.{{cite journal|title=Gilbert, Interpreted|journal=GoGilbert!|date=August 2012|page=66}}{{cite web|last1=Edlen|first1=Daniel|title=About Me|url=http://vinylart.info/who.htm|website=Vinyl Art by Daniel Edlen|accessdate=9 July 2014}} Raised in Pacific Palisades, CA, he attended the Brentwood Art Center, learning to draw and paint. He also studied Cybernetics at University of California, Los Angeles.

After moving to Arizona, Daniel Edlen began creating his vinyl art using a modified pointillistic technique.{{cite journal|last1=Tropiano|first1=Dolores|title=Artist of the Month - Daniel Edlen|journal=Phoenix Magazine|date=July 2014|volume=49|issue=7|page=40|url=https://www.phoenixmag.com/2014/07/01/daniel-edlen/|accessdate=8 April 2023}} White acrylic paint dabbed on creates an image "a bit like a black and white newspaper photo in reverse".{{cite journal|last1=Santiago|first1=Brandon "Bova"|title=Gather and See the Music|website=Riphort.com|date=November–December 2013|issue=13|page=24}} It is noted that painting the recycled records is "a meticulous process that... often translates to one hyper-realistic rendering per month".{{cite web|last1=Brooks|first1=Katherine|title=Vinyl Artist on the LP Too Sacred to Paint|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/14/artist-daniel-edlen-paint_n_1885577.html|website=The Huffington Post|date=15 September 2012 |accessdate=9 July 2014}} It's also been remarked that it is "a truly unique message-meets-medium portraiture technique, using the physical canvas of artists’ talent — their records — to paint portraits of them in white acrylic."{{cite web|last1=Popova|first1=Maria|title=Meta-Vinyl Creativity|url=https://www.themarginalian.org/2009/03/24/meta-vinyl-creativity/|website=The Marginalian|date=24 March 2009 |accessdate=8 April 2023}}

Notable works have been shown by VH1, commissioned by the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood and VEVO, as well as done for the Roger Steffens Reggae Archives.{{cite journal|title=Bob Marley: Art and Soul|journal=The Beat|date=2008|volume=27|issue=2|page=32}} Edlen was also commissioned by the David Lynch Foundation to paint a series of pieces, which were signed by the artists like Tom Waits and Iggy Pop to be auctioned to benefit the foundation.{{cite web|title=Iggy Pop Autographed Vinyl Artwork at David Lynch Foundation Music|url=http://www.iggyandthestoogesmusic.com/us/news/iggy-pop-autographed-vinyl-artwork-david-lynch-foundation-music|website=Iggy and the Stooges Raw Power|date=29 March 2011 |accessdate=9 July 2014}}

In an interview with Phoenix Magazine, Edlen stated his reason for creating his Vinyl Art, "They celebrate the subject and the object, the art and the artifact.”