Last weekend at CAN Art in Ibiza, the works of Daniel Fleur were also on display – an artist who succeeds in a rare feat: making us stop and truly look at his work.
In an age of hyper-speed, compulsive scrolling, and images that last less than a second, Daniel Fleur chooses to paint slowly. His paintings carry an unusual weight: built layer by layer, with care and precision rooted in a solid technical background. Yet there’s nothing stiff about his work. On the contrary, what strikes the viewer is the lightness with which Fleur addresses deep themes such as materialism, social identity, and the pressures of contemporary life, weaving in a surprising and disarming irony.
“I try to create works that function on multiple levels,” he told us. “While I pay a lot of attention to technical aspects — from layering to material — I also want to introduce tension, contradiction. Titles are essential for this: they often shift the tone or invite a second reading, prompting the viewer to ask what they’re really looking at. It’s exactly that friction between seriousness and play that interests me.”
Looking at his paintings, one might think of hyperrealism. But Fleur distances himself from that label: “I think of realism more as a tool than a goal. I want my paintings to be believable, and sometimes that means diving into detail to capture a surface or texture. But I’m not aiming for hyperrealism. In person, the paintings are often looser than they appear in photos: you can see the brushstrokes, the layering, even paint splashes along the edges. The camera flattens these physical qualities, pushing the work toward a hyperreal feel that’s not entirely accurate.”
His images often originate from everyday observations, from seemingly trivial details. “Many times it starts with something small and a little ridiculous — a meme, a photo from a ‘good vibes only’ vacation post. I’m interested in how people curate their lives for public display, especially on social media, and how this performance shapes identity and desire. There are times of the year, like summer, full of this kind of content. I often scroll through influencer feeds or lifestyle blogs. Not always with a critical eye — sometimes I simply find beauty or weirdness in the way certain things are staged.”
Fleur doesn’t hide behind trends or provocation. He works with painting the old-fashioned way, with patience and respect for the medium — but with a clear-eyed view of the present. “I believe there’s something powerful in slowing down and committing to a process that takes time. Painting is an ancient medium, but it still has the ability to speak to the present in unexpected ways. My ambition is to become the best craftsman I can be — not out of nostalgia, but because I think the physicality of painting offers something different, something bodily. In a world that constantly updates itself, I want to create images that can hold the gaze just a little longer.”
