Lionel Daniels Art

Lionel Daniels Art Lionel Daniels is a DC based painter, who specializes in telling the diverse stories of the Black experience through portraiture

Embrace, 2026Mixed MediaLionel DanielsI’ve been thinking a lot about how love changes after loss.We often talk about gri...
08/29/2026

Embrace, 2026
Mixed Media
Lionel Daniels

I’ve been thinking a lot about how love changes after loss.

We often talk about grief as something we eventually move past. I’m becoming more interested in the opposite idea: that some relationships become so much a part of us that they simply take on another form.

A smell. A routine. An old photograph. A place in the house you still glance toward without thinking.

Maybe remembrance isn’t the inability to let go. Maybe it’s evidence that something mattered enough to leave an imprint.

Embrace comes from that place.

Not simply the sadness of losing, but the strange beauty of continuing to love something that is no longer experienced in quite the same way.

Some love doesn’t leave. It changes form.

08/18/2026

Color is never just color for me.

Lately I’ve been thinking less about choosing colors and more about developing my own language with them.

What does this blue communicate? What happens when it sits against a particular background? How does that relationship change the feeling of the figure or the story?

I’m becoming more intentional about what each color needs to carry before it ever reaches the canvas.

Not just what looks good, but what the color needs to say.

Still developing it. Still learning the language.

08/13/2026

Sometimes a painting needs another chance.

I went back to the original Nourish and decided to rework it. Same idea, same story, but with a stronger composition and a clearer vision of what I wanted the piece to become.

Part of the process is knowing when to leave a painting alone.

And part of it is knowing when you’re not done yet.

Nourish, 2026.
Work in progress.

Appraised Value, 202648 × 48 in.Mixed media on canvasThree generations of Black women sit on the steps of home.But the t...
08/12/2026

Appraised Value, 2026
48 × 48 in.
Mixed media on canvas

Three generations of Black women sit on the steps of home.

But the title asks a harder question: Who gets to decide what that home, that neighborhood, or that family is worth?

Appraised Value examines housing, generational wealth, displacement, and the ways value has historically been assigned to Black communities. Yet the women remain rooted, present, and undeniable.

Because value has never only lived in the property.

It lives in the people.

The crown wasn’t painted.It was written.Heal24 × 36 in.Acrylic, collage, and handwritten affirmations on canvas.2026.
08/06/2026

The crown wasn’t painted.
It was written.

Heal
24 × 36 in.
Acrylic, collage, and handwritten affirmations on canvas.
2026.

Heal, 2026Lionel DanielsCollege Park, MarylandAlthough the painting depicts one person at two stages of life, it was sha...
08/03/2026

Heal, 2026
Lionel Daniels
College Park, Maryland

Although the painting depicts one person at two stages of life, it was shaped by the words of many people.

Created during the Black Boys and Men Mental Health Summit, Heal invited participants to write affirmations on individual paper petals. Their handwriting, encouragement, and lived experiences were then assembled into flowers and incorporated directly into the painting.

The work became more than a portrait. It became a record of a community choosing to speak life over a Black boy and the man he is still becoming.

The uneven handwriting and overlapping petals were intentionally preserved. Healing is rarely neat, private, or completed all at once. Sometimes it is built slowly from the words others give us until we are able to believe them for ourselves.

What began as individual messages became a shared crown, carrying encouragement from one generation of the self into the next.

Which words have remained with you long after they were spoken?

CycleMixed Media, 11” × 18”, 2026Every child is told education is the way out.But no one talks about who designed the ro...
06/25/2026

Cycle
Mixed Media, 11” × 18”, 2026

Every child is told education is the way out.

But no one talks about who designed the road.

We call it the achievement gap.

What if the gap isn’t in achievement?

What if it’s in opportunity?

Cycle examines education apartheid and the quiet systems that shape access long before a child ever enters a classroom. This isn’t a painting about a student’s determination.

It’s a painting about the system.

How far is the distance between talent and opportunity?

On view 1223 Potomac Gallery

06/25/2026

Distance
Mixed Media, 11” × 18”, 2026

We’re taught that democracy belongs to everyone.

But what happens when some communities experience it from a distance?

Distance examines civic apartheid and the invisible systems that shape who has access to opportunity, representation, and power.

The Capitol can be seen from the window.

Its promises can still feel miles away.

How far is the distance between a promise and the people it’s meant to serve?

Big news!I’m excited to share that I’ve officially been welcomed to Spiralis Gallery and will be participating in their ...
06/01/2026

Big news!

I’m excited to share that I’ve officially been welcomed to Spiralis Gallery and will be participating in their upcoming exhibition, Landscapes Within, opening Friday, June 5th in Easton, Maryland.

As many of you know, I’ve been working hard to build my career as a full-time artist and get my work in front of more people. Opportunities like this remind me why I took the leap.

I’m honored to be exhibiting alongside Larry Horowitz and Victoria Oniosun, and grateful to Spiralis Gallery for believing in my work and welcoming me into the gallery.

My paintings are rooted in the stories, memories, faith, and everyday experiences that shape our communities. I’m looking forward to sharing those stories with a new audience and seeing where this journey leads.

If you’re in the area, I’d love for you to stop by and experience the show.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, collected my work, encouraged me, and followed along on this journey. This is another step forward, and I’m excited for what’s ahead.

📍 Spiralis Gallery

🗓️ Opening Reception: Friday, June 5

📍 Easton, Maryland

See you there

05/04/2026

Today, Everyday People comes down.

Grateful to x .art.island for believing in this work and giving it a home. What started as an idea became a space filled with stories, presence, and real connection.

To everyone who showed up, shared the work, brought someone with them, or spent time with the pieces… thank you. You made this more than an exhibition. You made it felt.

This show reminded me why I do this. The work lives on, and I’m just getting started.

More soon.

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Washington D.C., DC
20017

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