Art is in the ‘Hands’ of Guido Daniele

Guido Daniele is a hand painter and it’s not patterns that he paints, but all kinds of animals that, looked at in isolation, appear life-like, what with the texture and color of their hide, and shiny eyes that look so real. This hyperrealist artist lives and works in Milan, Italy.

Born in Soverato in Calabria, Italy, this amazing hand painter was always interested in art since his very childhood. So, it wasn’t surprising that he got enrolled in Brera School of Arts and majored in sculpture. After graduating, he shifted base to India, where he did his schooling from the Tankas school in Dharamshala, India.

Daniele honed his artistic skills and became a hyper-realistic illustrator. Working with advertising companies as an art editor, he developed innovative painting techniques with an airbrush. No size was big for him. He is credited with painting on a cloth backdrop that was a whopping 400 square meters in size!

Not only this, but Daniele also painted trompe-l’œil images for public buildings and private houses. Incidentally, trompe-l’œil is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in 3D. It’s his brilliant imagination that enables him to create one masterpiece after another.

However, the feather in his cap is his body painting technique that he developed in 1990. He focused on his hands to create animal paintings that he termed as ‘Handimals’. These became instantly popular and drew global attention. In this, he basically paints the hands of models or volunteers to look like animals. The objective of ‘Handimals’ is to raise awareness regarding the fragility of nature and what we can do to preserve and protect it.

The intricate details that Daniele puts in his creations are to be seen to be believed. Little wonder his creations have been used in advertising for global companies, such as AT&T, Coca-Cola Kia, Magnum, Sergio Rossi, and many more. His works also feature in television commercials and television programs, as also in fashion events and exhibitions.

Daniele has been participating in solo and group art exhibitions. He is not only a hand artist par excellence but also a wildlife enthusiast, committed to wildlife protection. He is actively involved with organizations, such as World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Dolphin Aid, the Jane Goodall Institute, Innocence in Danger, Liliane Fonds, PLAN, and APNEEF. He has been conferred with the Hero of the Year Award by the Animal Planet television network in 2007.

Guido Daniele

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