ARTIST DANIEL ZIMMERMAN MAY LIVE AND WORK IN THE Metro Atlanta area, but his rural roots shape how he views the natural world and the way he manipulates it to express himself through his oil paintings. His subjects are those of his childhood in Mississippi—the plants and animals that fascinated him then and now.
“I don’t paint photorealistically,” he says. “I use my creative freedom to paint plants and animals that convey happiness. I strongly believe in maintaining a sense of optimism and joy, and I hope that shows through my paintings.” His large-format art uses color exuberantly and sometimes in unique applications. “I like the pieces that are not conventionally beautiful, where I intentionally paint with colors that are not necessarily considered pleasing for the subject matter,” he adds. “It reminds me that I am doing this for enjoyment and not the approval of others.”
Regardless, he has the approval of many collectors. His works hang in numerous private collections, and he has produced large-scale commissioned paintings for corporate offices. He shows some of his paintings through high-end design shops, where interior designers can source his work for their clients’ homes and offices. “I have enjoyment in seeing others sell my work,” Zimmerman says. “Each shop sells the art in a unique way based on how they interpret it; it helps me to see myself in a different light.”
Zimmerman is creating much more than a portfolio of large-scale impasto paintings. He is building a lifestyle for himself that he shares with others, incorporating his love of gardening into his studio environment. “The garden is a major part of what I’m creating,” he says. “My plan is to create a giant garden in the South similar to what artist Claude Monet designed [in northern France], where I can live and work and others can come to enjoy art and nature, too. It will be my legacy.”
His 5,000-square-foot studio is where he paints full time, often opening his studio’s warehouse-style doors to the elements to see the flowers growing in the adjacent garden he is in the midst of creating. He can hear the waterfall of his sprinkler moving back-and-forth on a warm summer day as he paints an exuberantly colorful canvas full of flowers. “My studio is always evolving, and that openness is part of what keeps it alive. The gardens grow, the vignettes change and the world surrounding the work continues to expand in unplanned ways,” he says.
On his website, he describes the full journey of finding the land where his studio and gardens now stand and details the process of clearing away enough of the past to begin building a new storyline in the space. “One of my favorite creations is the studio itself,” he says. “It is the place I made for myself to grow without interference. To me, it is a place of escape. I drive through the gates and arrive in a world where time does not matter, email does not exist and the burden of rationality is temporarily suspended.
“I need plants and the excitement of potential. The thrill of improving an old warehouse and making it greater than the sum of its parts is motivating to me. I own steel beams, dirt and landscaping. But those things together combine to create a world where creativity, optimism and togetherness live.”
While creativity is at the forefront of the Daniel Zimmerman experience, reality is a vital part of his business. According to him, he always knew he was going to be an artist but was not clear of the pathway at the beginning. “I do not subscribe to the starving artist theory,” he says. So despite his creative bent, he enrolled at the University of Mississippi to study and earn a degree in banking and finance. He graduated during our country’s banking and financial crisis, so he began to turn his attention toward his love of art. With no formal art training, Zimmerman created his own education, developing his skills slowly over time through workshops, courses and traveling to atelier training in Paris. “I began to take art seriously when I purchased the studio and had a mortgage to pay,” he says.
Today, Zimmerman continues to craft a beautiful lifestyle heavily tied to painting and gardening. He is ultimately planning a large garden somewhere on the periphery of Atlanta, where visitors can come to immerse themselves in his world. But the business of his art career doesn’t escape him. “I do a lot of non-painting activities in order to have a successful business,” he explains. “I spend a lot of time at shows and exhibitions, meeting people and showing my latest pieces, as well as framing, shipping, arranging for visitors to come into the studio, working with galleries and even bookkeeping. But I’m in this for the long haul; I’m building something here.”
Some off-the-path creative ventures keep things interesting. For instance, he recently painted a large-scale lion in a garden on commission for a Florida office, whose interior designer found his work and thought it was a good fit. He spent two days building scaffolding for the lion canvas, which he created in a 15-by-9-foot size. One of his paintings, Ode to Monet, also recently was accepted by Samsung for inclusion in its Frame TV artwork. He has seen his artwork hanging with antique furniture and in modern residential architecture; the art looks at home in both settings.
While he lives among his paintings and his gardens, he also infuses a heavy dose of antiques into his environment. “I go to England with my friend, who is an antiques dealer, to do a lot of shopping,” he says. “I dabble heavily in antique furniture and make them a part of my studio. I love them and want them around me.”
Zimmerman extends an invitation to the public to visit his studio and gardens by appointment, where they can see his uplifting paintings and get a sense of his authentic style. “I love to share the space because I have been inspired by others’ studios in the past,” he says. “I paint what is in my heart and mind at the moment, without too much planning. Planning sometimes detracts from the creative freedom.”
Zimmerman is optimistic about the future. “I’m excited to live my life,” he says. “I get to live my dream, which has always been to develop a creative life and fill it with friends, painting and gardening. Everything I create is grounded in these elements, and one day, I hope to assemble a collection of immersive garden studios, where people can gather to celebrate the arts and the beauty of nature and life.” *
Dana W. Todd is a professional writer specializing in interior design, real estate, luxury homebuilding, landscape design, architecture and art.
