Daniel Sprick was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1953, and has lived off and on in Colorado since the age of five. He now lives and works in Denver, Colorado, which gives him a “comfortable and predictable lifestyle that is right for a person to develop as an artist.”

Many of Sprick’s oil paintings, including Release Your Plans, feature an arrangement of objects set up in his studio. Some of his favorite objects show up in multiple works. He carefully selects and arranges the objects, making choices intuitively. “Mostly I paint things because I like the way things look,” says Sprick. “I have mountains of books on iconography, but iconography isn’t substantial enough. The thing has to resonate, have its own visual appeal. However, there could be some meaning in there that I don’t even know about—I’m not saying there is no meaning in there.”

While his style is very realistic, Sprick does make changes to what he sees before him, and he doesn’t limit himself to the laws of nature. He says, “I mostly see the world as a pretty good place. I guess that’s what I want to come though my work—something life affirming or some sense of well being, some optimism, some hope—even though I load it with portents of mortality and so forth. You know, I haven’t forgotten that those things exist, and I don’t think that the world is just a field of puppies romping in the daisies or anything, but it’s a good place, I just realize that there’s razor blades and cigarette butts, too.”

From the Denver Art Museum

DANIEL SPRICK

BORN May 1, 1953, Little Rock, AR

EDUCATION

University of Northern Colorado, BA (1978)

Ramon Froman School of Art, Cloudcroft, NM (1977)

National Academy of Design, NM (1976)

Mesa College (1971)

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023-24    Fleeting Presence: The Liminal Work of Daniel Sprick, Madden Museum of Art, Englewood, CO, catalogue

2016    Daniel Sprick, Painting Out-Of-Doors, Museum of Outdoor Art, Greenwood Village, CO

2016    Daniel Sprick, Recent Works, Gerald Peters Gallery, NY, catalogue

2014    Daniel Sprick’s Fictions: Recent Works, Denver Art Museum, catalogue

2011    Daniel Sprick, Flesh and Bone, Arcadia Gallery, NY, catalogue

2008    The Living and the Dead, Gallery 1261, Denver, CO, catalogue

2007    Arcadia Gallery, NY

2003    Mariani Gallery University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

2002    Evansville Museum of Art & Science, Evansville, IN

2001    Recent Works, Merrill Johnson Gallery, Denver, CO, catalogue

1999    Daniel Sprick, Denver Art Museum, CO

1998    Solo Exhibit, Merrill Gallery, Denver, CO

1997    Barney Wyckoff Gallery, Aspen, CO

1995    Gerold Wunderlich, New York, NY

1994    Carol Siple Gallery, Denver, CO

1993    Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tn

1992    Louis Newman Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA

1991    Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO

1990    Bishop Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

1990    Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts, Glenwood Springs, CO

1989    Sherry French Gallery, New York, NY

1989    University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

1987    Contemporary Realism, Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings, Clara Hatton Gallery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO and the Art Center at Appalshop, Inc., Whitesburg, NY

1987    The Grapevine Gallery, Oklahoma City, OK

1981    University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

1980    Capricorn Gallery, Bethesda, MD

1978    Students Center Gallery, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2007-2009      The Object Project, traveling exhibition, Evansville Museum of Art & Science, Evansville, IN; Greenville County Museum of Art, Greensville, SC; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN; Museum of Outdoor Art, Englewood, CO

2003    Fifth Annual Realism Invitational, Jenkin Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2003    Salon d’Arts, Colorado History Museum, Denver, CO

2003    Magic Realism, Sangre de Cristo Center for the Arts, Pueblo, CO

2002-2003      San Francisco International Art Exposition

2001    The Art of Illusion

2000    Realism Today, Taos Art Museum, NM

2000    Group Exhibition, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000, 1999      Realism Invitational, Jenkins Johnson Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1994-1999, 1990, 1988, 1987 Artists of America Exhibition, Colorado History Museum, Denver

1993-1999      Governor’s Invitational, Loveland, CO

1996    First Annual Realism Invitational, Merrill Gallery, Denver, CO

1994    Contemporary Realism, Gerold Wunderlich, New York, NY

1993    Contemporary Realists, Denver Art Museum, CO

1993    Contemporary Self Portraits from the James Goode Collection, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C.

1993    Still Life – 1963-1993, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

1992    American Still Life Painting, Minneapolis Museum of Art, MN

1992    Two Person Exhibition: Daniel Sprick and Mark Daily, Carol Siple Gallery, Denver, CO

1990    Colorado, 1990, Denver Art Museum, CO

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Spears, Dorothy. “A Still Life,” American Artist, April 2021, pp 22-27.

McIntosh, Monique. “Poetic License.” Luxe, Interiors + Design, Colorado, May-June, 2021, pp 254-257.

Pearce, Michael J. “Daniel Sprick: Seeking “Something That Feels True.” Fine Art Connoisseur, February 2021, pp 76-82.

Trippi, Peter, “Seven Bridges, A Mecca for Contemporary Realism and More.” Fine Art Connoisseur, July/August 2018, pp 120-135 (cover).

Carsten, Rosemary. “Beyond Skin Deep.” Western Art & Architecture, August/September 2016, pp 154-159.

Rinaldi, Ray Mark. “Sprick’s painterly postcards of Denver skip the romance,” Denver Post, April 15, 2016, pp C 5-6.

Anderson, Mathias. “Get Thee to Denver.” Fine Art Connoisseur, October 2014, p 73. 

Standring, Timothy. “Daniel Sprick’s Fictions.” Southwest Art magazine, June 2014, pp 84-89.

Ohern, John. “Mirrors of Reality.” American Art Collector, June 2014, pp 54-59.

Young, Quinton. “Art is Life?” A&E Spotlight, Aug 14, 2014, p. 8-9.

Rinaldi, Mark Ray. “Daniel Sprick’s “Fictions”—or are they real?” Denver Post, August 15, 2014, pp 1C and 9C.

Doherty, M. Stephen. “Object Project: Common Objects, Uncommon Results.” Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science, 2007.

Kelly, III, Raymond J. “To Be, or Not to Be, Four Hundred Years of Vanitas Painting.” Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan, 2006, pp 110-111.

Ganglehoof, Bonnie. “Daniel Sprick.” Southwest Art magazine, May 2001, p 145.

Spears, Dorothy. “A Still Life.” American Artist, April 2001.

Ganglehoff, Bonnie. “The Nature of Beauty.” Southwest Art magazine, May 1999, pp 69-73.

“Daniel Sprick: A Refined Vision of Realism,” ArtTalk, November 1996.

“The Art Boom in Colorado.” Southwest Art magazine, August 1996, (cover).

Patterson, Carrie. “The Reality of Daniel Sprick,” Roaring Fork Valley, January 1996

Johnson, Nan. “Smithsonian to house DS artist’s work,” Glenwood Post, July 21, 1994, p 4.

Chandler, Mary. “Art scene blooming for spring,” Rocky Mountain News, April 8, 1994.

Rosen, Steve. “Magical Artistry: Paintings Ring of Surrealism,” Denver Post, March 31, 1994, p. 3E.

Hill, Hart. “Real Still Life,” WESTWORD, March 23, 1994.

Dickinson, Carol. “Beyond Landscape, Looking In at Artists of America.” Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, September/October 1991, pp 81-81.

Zalkind, Simon. “Daniel Sprick, Carol Siple Gallery.” ICON, July 1991, Visual Arts section.

Chandler, Mary. “At Carol Siple Gallery,” Rocky Mountain News, June 9, 1991.

Hayes, Mary Eshbaugh. “Daniel Sprick goes beyond realism.” Aspen Times/Life section, December 6, 1990, p 9-C. 

Coronel, Michael and Elizabeth. “Reflexive Realism,” Art Space, December 1989.

Eichner-Dixon, Peter. “Daniel Sprick,” American Artist, August 1987.

McConnellogue, Kieran. “Craftsman, Daniel Sprick’s Contemporary Realism.” University of Northern Colorado magazine Spectrum, pp 14-19.

Pontello, Jacqueline. “Daniel Sprick.” Southwest Art, May 1987.

Douslin, P.A. “Daniel Sprick,” Art Gallery International, Nov-Dec 1986.

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Denver Art Museum, CO

National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Evansville Museum of Art

Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN

Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

United States Court of Appeals, Byron White Courthouse, Denver, CO

U.S. West Communications, Denver, CO

Belvac Production Machinery, Lynchburg, VA

The Bountiful Corporation, Denver, CO

The Denver Post, Denver, CO

Holme, Robert and Owen, Denver, CO

North American Equities, Denver, CO

Montgomery, Little, Young, Campbell and McGrew, PC, Englewood, CO

Seven Bridges Foundation, Greenwich, CT

Benson Mineral Group, Denver, CO

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR

State of Colorado, State Capitol Building, Denver, CO

Byron White Courthouse, Denver, CO