ABOUT THE ARTIST

I dream of utopia for the transgender community. I submerge my community into a time of old master paintings where I recognize transgender existence. Through my paintings I create a space of comfort, love, and acceptance—a place to finally relax with the people I love, protected and grateful for the survival of our community.

My work references the Renaissance and Neoclassical eras, creating deserved spaces of luxury and opulence for transgender people. In past times, paintings were used to capture only the privileged, resulting in a loss of intimacy, truth, and realism.

In my new paintings using classical techniques, I remove gender binaries and societal privilege. In my world building, narrow definitions of sexuality and gender are not the standards. This work is a fight for queer body autonomy. I want us to live and be seen without having to refute perceptions that don’t validate our choices or existence.

 I am so grateful for the generous permission of my friends to use their voices and images in honoring our collective worth.

Daniel Sundberg is a transmasc artist, painting primarily in oil with stylistic tendencies towards portraiture and classicism. His art is inspired by and made for the Transgender community, and his layered oil paintings capture and historically anchor both his own and his friends’ existence. Sundberg received his MFA in Visual Studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. His work has been presented in group exhibitions in Flagstaff, Arizona and Portland, Oregon.

Daniel Sundberg work has been featured in group exhibitions in Flagstaff, Arizona; and Portland ,Oregon. In January to August of 2025 his series a Queer Opulent Utopia will be presented in MFANW’s show subject in Umpqua Valley Arts , Chehalem Cultural Center, Pendleton Center for the Arts and Newport Visual Arts Center.