Welcome......

to the strange life of a Quasi Spiritual Warrior, Dan Abernathy: an outlaw poet, artist, and purveyor of words. Dan is well known for his art, but this Renaissance man is also known as a writer, with some of the most illogical views and inspirations seen, or heard. His voice, be it in his words or his art, is a collection of oddities, fascinations, and obsessions – a road map of sorts, tracking the life of a man that can’t and won’t fit in.

 

Dan picked up his first camera at the age of 13. This same year of his image-fueled life his first photograph was published which sparked his enduring passion. The inspiration for art became a driving force; to interpret, capture a moment in time and preserve it for others to absorb became his obsession.

As a photojournalist the myriad images Dan has composed through his wanderlust range from the war-torn countries of Ireland, Nicaragua and Cambodia to the people and natural scenes of Wyoming.

Dan’s art has vague borders and parameters, which gives him the freedom to create without restrictions. It is a derivative of his voice. His devotion to art continues to lead him all over the world to compose and share. For, “what best describes an artist is the same thing which describes an adventurer,” he writes. “The longing for something intense, grand, revolutionary, new horizons with different natural laws.”

 

 Upon discovering Abernathy's collection, Lauren Collins wrote, "It's new enough for me that it's gruesome, beautiful, and confusing all at once. It's Picasso (style), Pollack (medium), and Weston (subject) combined."

 

Dan joined the United States Army, serving in the 1st of the 509th Airborne Battalion Combat Team in Italy before incurring injuries in a parachute jump. Following his recovery, he joined the 1st of the 10th Mounted Color Guard at Fort Carson, Colorado.

 

Since 1980, Abernathy’s home base has been Pinedale, Wyoming, but he is constantly on the road allowing his visual life to expand as he travels the globe, alert for new sights to capture and experience.

 

Abernathy has been published nationally and internationally, has won numerous awards for his art, photography and writing. He has published two books of poetry, Looking For Security While Wearing a Loincloth and I Don’t Shave on Sundays and three Chapbooks, My Mind Has Forgot to Age, Morning Sex and Pancakes and Categories Beyond Classification.

 

Dan has devoted his life to perceiving the world through capturing poignant images, be it through the lens of a camera, drawing tablet or an ink pen. He knowingly admits that not all sights and experiences have the same destination of exposing themselves.