'Before Bloom' - by Dan Herlihy

Artwork details

• 122 x 91cm
• Acrylic on canvas
• Unframed

Artist Biography

Dan Herlihy is a London-based contemporary painter whose work explores the intersection of atmosphere and abstract form. Following a first-class degree in the arts, he established a career as an Art Director on Oscar-winning film productions. This background in visual storytelling continues to inform his studio practice.

Working primarily in acrylic, Herlihy employs brush, palette knife, and wedge to build and disrupt the surface, creating a layered, textural finish. His work is defined by restrained, earthy palettes and elongated forms, using subtle shifts in colour, scale, and light to create tension and presence. His practice centres on opposing forces. The Horizons works explore moments where elements meet and resist, with small variations in tone or balance carrying significant weight.

“I’m drawn to earthy palettes for their primal quality. In film, a slight shift in light or form can change the entire feeling of a scene. I look for that same sensitivity in painting, creating an atmosphere that suggests a story without fully revealing it.”

His work sits between the grounded and the abstract, capturing fragments of a larger narrative.