12 Artworks By Dan Barry That Are His Response To The General Climate Of Dread And Chaos

Dan Barry has been drawn to creating mixed media drawings since he was a young person growing up in northern Wisconsin. He recently moved from Austin, TX, to south-central Pennsylvania. Dan's love of vintage visual media has grown and developed throughout his career.

Dan’s artworks combine the marks of his hand with vintage ephemera, both old and new. His artworks often explore themes of life’s difficult times and mortality. He considers much of the artwork that he creates to be an ambiguous journal of his lived experience. In his ongoing series, "IT PORTENDS," the artworks are the artist's response to the general climate of dread and chaos found in a polarized nation and current world events.

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12 PHOTOS

#1 "The End", 2024

"American democracy is facing an existential threat, and the stakes could not be higher. In November, we will be having the most important election in American history. There is a decision that will be made: Are we going to continue our democracy any longer, or will we welcome authoritarian rule? Without hyperbole, the latter will ensure that our individual freedoms will be ceded.

We are at the precipice of a truly remarkable moment. Our experiment of democracy is about to pass the 250-year mark. Americans are still taking part in the democratic experiment Thomas Jefferson launched with the Declaration of Independence. The magnitude of the danger and threat we, as a polarized nation, are facing cannot and should not be underestimated. Decency, integrity, honor, honesty, empathy, and compassion are what we desperately need right now.

The aspiration of America still lives in people’s hearts, including mine: a nation continuing to strive for peaceful, multiracial, multicultural, and multireligious coexistence. We cannot take the blessings of our democracy for granted."

— Dan Barry, 2024

#2 "Voyeur", 2024

#3 "I Was Looking For The Opposite Really", 2024

“Never in the history of our Republic has a President had reason to believe that he would be immune from criminal prosecution if he used the trappings of his office to violate the criminal law,” Sotomayor wrote. “Moving forward, however, all former Presidents will be cloaked in such immunity. If the occupant of that office misuses official power for personal gain, the criminal law that the rest of us must abide will not provide a backstop.

With fear for our democracy, dissent.”

— Justice Sotomayor

#4 "Grand Old Party", 2024

#5 "Why Does This Not Alarm You?", 2024

"Hatred can rot away at a person’s intelligence. Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation’s progress toward freedom and democracy."

— Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017)

#6 "Blinded By Hate", 2024

#7 "Seriously", 2024

#8 "The Flowers Must All Die And The Fruits Must Decay", 2024

#9 "Anxiously Awaiting", 2024

#10 "Poetic Faith", 2024

#11 "Is This The Beginning Or The End?", 2024

#12 "Is It Too Late?", 2024