Atlanta Artist Daniel Feuer Debuts Paintings

Daniel Feuer is a young man of many talents. A rising star, his mixed media paintings have attracted quite a following. While creating art seems effortless, Daniel’s personal journey is filled with many hardships he has had to overcome. Like the emergence of his vibrant paintings, he has triumphed in an inspiring way.

At Feuer’s Atlanta debut at the home of Kirk and Lori Halpern, the artist’s colorful, abstract paintings were as captivating as his genuine openness about his personal challenges. Feuer greeted the AJT, saying, “I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to share my art. Influenced mostly by my own life, I constantly try to tell my stories through metaphor and symbolism. Whenever I pick up a spray can or a paint brush or an oil stick, I want to figure out what is happening with me at that moment in time, express it and learn from it so that I can grow. I often look at and read about renaissance painters, Greek mythology, and love the aesthetics of the ’80s graffiti movement, along with people like Basquiat, Keith Haring and even Andy Warhol, who had the courage and audacity to engage in the counterculture in order to best define themselves. I look for inspiring new ways to tell my own story and the courage to tell it truthfully.”

Daniel Feuer, Dr. Gerald Feuer, Lori and Kirk Halpern stand in front of “Romeo and Juliet” at Daniel’s art show, “A look Inside.”

Feuer added, “If it weren’t for my family and the Halperns (Kirk and Lori), I never would have had the courage to show my art to the world. That was why I called the show ‘A Look Inside,’ because it was the first time that I had the strength to show people who I truly am. Having the community come and support me has been such an incredible and wonderful feeling. It is the support I needed to feel confident in myself.”

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In “Touched by God,” a mother and daughter stare into the eternal unknown, awaiting what comes next.

A graduate of Greenfield Hebrew Academy and The Weber School, Feuer created a nonprofit called “Smoothie Kidz” as a teen, turning it into a 501c3 that matched over 80 active volunteers with 1,200 chemo patients going through treatment. His father, Dr. Gerald Feuer, a gynecological surgeon, made it possible for Feuer to do this in his office, and the idea was such a huge success that Feuer was recognized by 11 Alive with the “Kids Who Care Award.” Feuer was also honored by Columbia University, which awards an annual book prize to a junior who exhibits intellectual curiosity, achievement, community activism and leadership.

Feuer attended Vanderbilt on a full ride thanks to the Ingram Scholars Program. His mentor, Bob Isherwood, recommended that he next attend the Miami Ad school in New York, where Feuer started to learn about advertising and building a campaign. After graduating, he briefly worked at Deutch. Unenthusiastic about the work culture, he moved to ad agency VMLY&R, where he began to work as an art director for clients like the U.S. Navy.

Feuer’s painting “Medusa” asks, “What would it look like to stare into Medusa’s eyes as you turned to stone?”

“I have been fortunate to live a very blessed life,” he said. “I have a family that loves me, and I have always had opportunities to choose and follow my own path. But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t had my own difficulties. I grew up with dyslexia and other learning disorders, and had to learn from a young age that hard work, intense effort and uncompromising perseverance is the key to success.”

Another of Feuer’s challenges has been an eating disorder. “I was diagnosed with a binge eating disorder and what is described as bulimic exercise tendencies,” he said. “Essentially, I would hide myself away from the world when I could no longer understand or deal with my emotions and eat until I felt nothing at all. Then, in a fit of guilt, I would go to the gym for hours and hours at a time trying to burn off the tens of thousands of calories I had ingested. It took me over 5 years between diagnosis and intensive inpatient treatment to get a handle on my disease. But now I am stronger for it. I can handle the waves that crash upon me and rise.”

Now, Feuer is about to move to Dallas for a career promotion in advertising. He says he is “excited, nervous and looking forward to a new adventure. I would love to have the opportunity to continue showing my work and expanding on it. At the end of the day, art is meant to help people feel, and all I want is to share my self-expressions so that the audience can feel a part of me, share a connection and feel something powerful.”

“If I had advice for myself or any other teen,” he concluded, “it would be if you are afraid of life, if your only concern is the future, you will miss the path you walk on. And that path is everything.”