Daniela Schweitzer What the Water Holds/Lo Que Guarda el Agua
Cover: Drifting oil on canvas 36" x 36" $7,100
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Daniela Schweitzer What the Water Holds/Lo Que Guarda el Agua
July 28 – September 21, 2026 Artist’s Reception First Thursdays Art Walk September 3, 6 - 9 PM
SGFA SUE GREENWOOD FINE ART 330 north coast hwy laguna beach, ca 92651 949.494.0669 suegreenwoodfineart.com info@suegreenwoodfineart.com
When I was six years old and first stepped into a classical
Through abstraction, I seek to give form to what is transient,
art atelier in my hometown in Argentina, I knew I had found
felt, and deeply human. Facial features are often softened or
my world. The same visceral feeling of color and possibility
omitted, allowing the figure to move beyond individual identity.
and the unmistakable scent of oil paint still greet me each
What interests me is not creating likeness, but presence—the
day in my Santa Monica studio, decades later. The urgency
quiet moments of vulnerability, connection, and shared
to create has never left me.
experience that reveal something universal. Even my hand-built vessels are figures to me: presences shaped by touch, time,
My artistic practice has evolved into a multidisciplinary
and memory. Whether through clay, printmaking, or paint, I
dialogue between painting, hand-built ceramics, and
am drawn to the same instinctive process of discovery.
printmaking with each medium guided by the same pursuit: capturing fleeting moments in time. A figure caught in an
While the figure remains central to my work, water has
unguarded gesture. An emotion passing through a body
become an increasingly important companion. Rooted in
before it disappears. The subtle movement of hands shaping
memories of Argentina’s beaches and the ocean landscape
clay in a way that can never be repeated. I often begin
surrounding my home and studio in Los Angeles, water
without a fixed plan; instead, I follow the work, trusting
represents connection itself—an expansive, fluid force linking
intuition and allowing meaning to emerge through the act
places, memories, and people across distances. The oceans
of making.
feel like shared narratives, connecting me to my birthplace while reminding me of the invisible threads that bind us all.
My visual language was formed between two worlds. The lush countryside and beach summers of my childhood in
In the past year, this connection to water and the natural
Argentina instilled a lifelong love of nature, water, and
world has deepened. In the wake of the Palisades fire, I
unhurried connection. Los Angeles introduced me to the
found unexpected refuge and inspiration in my new home
radiant light of the Pacific coast and the beauty of its rich
near the Venice Canals. Long walks along the canals and the
cultural landscape, transforming my palette, expanding my
shoreline became a daily ritual, offering calm and continuity
relationship to color, and uncovering the connections we
during a period of uncertainty. The movement of water, the
share as humans. My career as a clinical geneticist has
rhythms of nature, and the serenity of those landscapes
taught me to look closely at people and the details, and art
found their way into my newer work, deepening an ongoing
has been the way I move beyond precision and into ambiguity,
exploration of memory, resilience, belonging, and renewal.
intuition, and feeling – the emotions hidden beneath the surface. Having lived between two cultures and two
I paint, sculpt, and print to honor human connection and the
professions, I have come to embrace that in-between space,
fleeting moments that bind us all—across cultures, lands,
which continually draws me toward people as both subject
and histories. It is my hope that everyone can recognize a
and muse.
little something of themselves in my work. - Daniela Schweitzer
The figure remains at the center of everything I create.
Daniela Schweitzer Working across oil and acrylic painting, hand-built
of using observation as a point of departure for paintings
ceramics, and works on paper, Daniela Schweitzer
shaped as much by sensation and subjective experience
(b. 1967, Argentina) pursues what she describes as the
as by direct representation. Particularly resonant are the
challenge of capturing "fleeting moments in time,"
deeply autobiographical paintings of Joan Brown. Drawing
whether an unguarded gesture, a passing emotion, or the
directly from her own life, Brown transformed everyday
trace of a hand shaping clay before it disappears. Through
experiences into commanding, vibrant figurative works in
layering, building, and transforming her materials,
which the application of paint and the material presence
Schweitzer explores the emotional residue of lived
of the surface become central to their emotional and
experience, distilling the essence of intimate moments into
expressive force.
richly textured works. Guided less by predetermined outcomes than by the unfolding process itself, she
Like these artists, Schweitzer moves beyond direct
approaches art making as an act of discovery, allowing
observation. Working primarily within the realm of abstract
each medium to reveal its own expressive possibilities.
figuration, she begins with reference photographs she takes herself, as well as live models. She then reduces,
Schweitzer developed a lifelong relationship with drawing
interprets, and transforms this visual information to reveal
and painting at an early age. At just six years old, she
what initially captured her attention: a gesture, a relationship,
began a twelve-year course of study in drawing, painting,
a quality of light, or a fleeting exchange. Figures become
and traditional techniques within a rigorous atelier setting.
elongated, spaces are compressed, and details are
This foundation continues to inform her practice, particularly
redacted, allowing color, composition, geometry, and
her sensitivity to the human figure, gesture, and
painterly gesture to carry the emotional weight of the scene.
classical composition. While studying medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, she continued her artistic
Place remains central to Schweitzer's work. She draws
education in parallel, deepening her understanding of the
directly from sensory impressions, memories, and
body as a physical presence and a source of profound
emotional resonances of the landscapes and environments
emotional expression.
she inhabits. Growing up in Argentina, she developed an early connection to nature through meandering
As her practice evolved, Schweitzer discovered the Bay Area
explorations of the land, where she cultivated a keen
Figurative painters, whose recognizable subjects coexisted
sensitivity to light, color, and atmosphere.
with the energetic brushwork, material experimentation, and expressive freedom more often associated with abstraction. Artists such as David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and Nathan Oliveira revealed the possibilities
South America also fostered her appreciation for lush
This same richness of palette extends into Schweitzer's
foliage, bountiful fruit trees, and the abundance of the
ceramic practice. Her vessels become sculptural grounds
natural world. After moving to California, these memories
for explorations of color and surface. Working with
became intertwined with the picturesque coastal
coil-built forms, she applies layers of underglaze, glaze,
environments around her. Following her displacement
and acrylic paint to their surfaces, approaching clay with
caused by the Palisades fires, a recent move to Venice
the sensibility of a painter. Through a process of
introduced a renewed relationship to water, reflections,
accumulation and excavation that includes building,
and the distinctive radiance of the Venice Canals, which
layering, scratching, removing, and reapplying pigment, she
feature prominently in her latest work.
creates richly worked surfaces that reveal the physical record of her process. Applied clay elements further interrupt the
At the heart of Schweitzer's practice is her sensitivity to the
vessel's contours, adding another layer of dimensionality
unique light of the places she loves and the way it creates
that emphasizes the interplay between structure, texture,
mood, shapes perception, and becomes inseparable from
and color. In these works, Schweitzer collapses the
the memory of lived experience. This attentiveness to the
boundaries between painting and ceramics, transforming
subtle and shifting qualities of light recalls the work of
functional forms into abstract compositions. Her approach
Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla, whose luminous coastal
shares an affinity with Los Angeles–based artist Roger
scenes captured the ephemeral beauty of Mediterranean
Herman, whose large-scale ceramic vessels function as
sunlight. Like Sorolla, Schweitzer treats light as a material
painterly surfaces rather than simply sculptural objects.
presence that shapes space and imbues ordinary moments
For both artists, clay becomes an extension of painting, a
with psychological depth. Across all subject matter,
site where gesture, color, and materiality converge
vivacious color has become the defining element of
through loose, intuitive mark-making.
Schweitzer's practice. In recent canvases, an ochre underpainting establishes a warm, luminous foundation
Across painting, ceramics, and works on paper,
that allows subsequent layers of pigment to achieve
Schweitzer's practice is ultimately united by a sustained
heightened vibrancy. Deep crimsons, cerulean blues,
investigation of material, memory, and perception.
saturated greens, and unexpected pinks evoke tropical
Through the physical language of her materials, fleeting
landscapes, reflections on water, and the brilliance of
experiences are transformed into works of remarkable
summer light.
presence, inviting viewers to slow down and appreciate what is often overlooked. – Hannah Sloan, Curator and Advisor Los Angeles, July 2026
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Parasols and Salt Air acrylic and oil on canvas 72" x 60" $18,000
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Cooling Off oil on canvas 40" x 50" $9,400
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Tranquil Nurturing oil on canvas 48" x 48" $10,500
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By the Canal acrylic on canvas 36" x 24" $4,700
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Sunny Beach Ride acrylic and oil on canvas 48" x 48" $10,500
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A Place to Pause oil on canvas 60" x 48" $12,000
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Passion Fruit acrylic and oil on canvas 48" x 72" $14,500
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Looking Out oil on canvas 20" x 16" $2,500
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Dipping Toes oil on canvas 24" x 24" $3,900
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Contemplation oil on canvas 14" x 14" $1,950
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Reflections acrylic on canvas 16" x 16" $2,250
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Sunset Conversation oil on canvas 12" x 12” $1,500
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SGFA SUE GREENWOOD FINE ART 330 north coast hwy laguna beach, ca 92651 949.494.0669 suegreenwoodfineart.com
info@suegreenwoodfineart.com