Author: Dinah Kolka. Dinah is the founder of Decadent Serpent and a graduate of Edinburgh Napier University with a BA(Hons) in English Literature. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Salisbury Review and The Mallard. She was also published in the Scottish Book Trust’s 2018 anthology Rebel. In 2023, Dinah self-published her own collection of short stories, The Search and Other Stories.

As I found myself walking through the maze of curiosities at Alfie’s Antique Market even before meeting Daniel, I realised that this was a perfect place for any artist to exhibit their work. Passing by through multiple units filled with items of various types, from Orthodox Christian iconography, a teapot with the Queen’s face on it, all the way to a hyper-realistic art exhibit with an artist proudly sitting in front of it, selling his art, completely content with his solitude on this late Tuesday evening. After getting lost a few times in between stalls, stands, and secret alleyways, I finally found my way to Daniel Soares’ exhibition. It was found in an actual room with large windows which allowed you to look in and see the art from afar. And there he was, sitting proudly in front of his own work.

The art exhibited was impressive and covered two walls, with paintings sitting against the wall up on the ceiling ledge, as well as the floor. This wasn’t even the entire collection, as on the side, one could find a whole lot of notebooks, drawings, and sketches. ‘I paint a lot,’ said Daniel as I was trying to take it all in. ‘I try to produce at least one painting a day.’ And the collection was a testament to his abilities. With gorgeous exhibits of still life, and landscapes, I was nonetheless the most attracted to ‘Misty Clouded Landscape’. It drew me in, almost immediately. It had a quiet tranquillity to it yet juxtaposed with an unexplained sense of adventure. Daniel didn’t hesitate to point out problems that he found with the painting, yet this brought me to enjoy it even further. There was something almost foreign in the landscape, and it made complete sense. ‘Are these based on real places?’ I asked. Daniel proceeded to explain that even though he gets inspired by visiting forests, parks, and other countries, he produces his work using solely his imagination. This added to the almost mystical quality of the misty landscape – an idea that this place did not exist, yet it felt so familiar.

But landscapes weren’t the only subject matters that ruled supreme – there was an assortment of jugs, fruit, flowers, and figures. They came to life on the white, pristine backdrop of the room, a long-forgotten art style of old masters. Daniel explained that he takes great inspiration from the 18th-century artists, stating that the majority of artists back in the day painted what they had to, they had a set style, a set form that was desired by those who commissioned their portraits. But there were the other artists, who created for the art’s sake. They had the freedom to pursue various artistic endeavours, dabble in style, and most importantly of all – truly learn the craft.

And this was what Daniel most passionately argued for – the act of true learning. It is within copying the old masters that the true skill lies – and it is skill and form after all that must triumph at all costs. He rejected modernism and futurism for their vain attempts at ideology veiled with art, and he proclaimed against substance triumphing over skill. And in that room, looking at those landscapes that offered much more than just form, I knew exactly what he meant.

The Misty Landscape wasn’t the only landscape that caught my attention, there was also a dark forest, that stirred something different within me altogether. There was a certain darkness that exuded from it – contained yet abundant, chaotic, yet restricted. A clash of binaries was captured within this one landscape. It was in those small imperfections made by fast and immediate creation, the sudden act of painting in quick strokes of brush that his landscapes came to life. The method of painting fast and often meant that his work was at a constant gradual upward slope. I didn’t get to see the chronology of paintings; however, I was curious to see them all side by side in chronological order to see the evolution of his art process. Nonetheless, one could see how each painting proved something new about his style, many possibilities were captured within that one small room.

Overall, it was a truly enlightening experience. As someone who normally prefers far darker and far more emotive art, I had to admit that Daniel’s work had plenty of merit. To quote our own Chief Columnist for Arts, Sam Wild ‘If art does not free our imagination, if it does not give us a new breath of life, then what use is it at all?’ And I could confirm, standing there, in front of that landscape that something was truly captured within it, some forgotten lateral yearning that stirs within all of us, every now and then. And it certainly stirred within me.

You can view the exhibition and purchase artwork at Alfie’s Antique Market, 13 Church Street, Marylebone, London, found in Unit S011. You can catch him between Tuesday and Saturday between 10 am – 6 pm. You can see more of his work here and you can follow him on Twitter/X here.