Danny Heller, painter
The merits of painting what you know, finding beauty in midcentury tract houses, and the story of a commission from In-N-Out Burger
I was immediately drawn to Danny Heller’s depictions of vintage New York and Los Angeles city scenes and suburban California architecture. I like Danny’s paintings because they are simply beautiful, large, and connect with my life experience, and I am not alone, judging by his popularity in the art world.
For me, the personal connection is particularly strong with his paintings of vintage cars parked in front of Eichler houses. These real places were the backdrop of my childhood, as I grew up a couple a blocks away from a now classic, Eichler-styled neighborhood in Granada Hills (a suburb northwest of LA in the San Fernando Valley). Danny’s paintings perfectly capture the mood, light, and oddity of LA suburbia.
Danny grew up in Northridge, CA, one town over from my hometown through the mid-1990s. It’s easy to dismiss that suburban part of Los Angeles as endless sprawl and strip malls, but there’s so much there that was formative: for me, access to every kind of food imaginable, and for Danny, eventually it would be the architecture and what he describes as “the visual culture of the suburbs.”
Recently Danny created a new painting series featuring some historic houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his students and apprentices. I was fortunate to see these large paintings on display at the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles. Read on to learn about the new series, why Danny paints midcentury modern architecture and vintage cars, and how his environment continues to inspire him.
Tell us about your recent show “Wonderland” that focuses on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and the work of his students.
I grew up in LA and became aware of architecture after I graduated from college. That’s when I started to notice the distinctive style of postwar tract housing that you see in the suburbs in many parts of the West Coast. That was my gateway drug into the design of midcentury modernism, such as reflected in the Eichler houses.
I had focused on tract houses and thought it would be interesting to look at the roots of their design. The design philosophy applied to tract homes stemmed from architects who designed one-off homes. I started looking at Frank Lloyd Wright and the ideas he passed along to his apprentices and students such as John Lautner, Richard Neutra, and Rudolph Schindler.
I decided to tap into this resource that had been in my backyard the whole time. I researched which homes were accessible from the street and how they fit into the bigger picture narrative of Frank Lloyd Wright, and how his students riffed off his principles and incorporated their own ideas. Then I went on drives in the Hollywood Hills and other locations and photographed these homes.
Many of the paintings in this show are about 5’ wide. I wanted this show to be scaled large because the buildings—the subjects—are large.
Were you painting these houses as they look today or an idealized vision of how they might have looked when they were first built, or something in between?
[Laughs]. Something in between. I like to be as true to the source material as possible. I focus on these individual homes and tract homes because I want to show how amazing they are and how the design remains appropriate today. If I took too many liberties and erased the natural characteristics, I don’t think they would look real or feel real. They would seem more imaginative. There are plenty of artists that do that successfully, but my goal is to convey that these are real structures and you can still see them and learn from them.
That being said, if there are ugly power lines, I might choose to exclude them, and I might make some adjustments to the landscaping if it isn’t quite up to par. That happened quite a bit with this series. These are very old homes from the 1920s and 1930s. There’s a lot of disrepair. Some have fallen on hard times. And some had renovations that weren’t so great.
What do you think makes a Danny Heller painting a Danny Heller painting?
I like to present homes in their entirety. I tend not to focus on a zoomed-in, close-up aspect. That way, you get a better sense of them and their surrounding environment, their scale, and how they relate to their environment. I probably take liberty with colors to present them in a more vibrant and lively way.
Where are your paintings in terms of their degree of realism?
More recently I’m trying to hit a compromise between realism and being painterly. I’ve been trying to loosen up a little bit. I’m conveying something realistically to show this is an actual location, but I want to see the hand of the artist in the artwork. That makes it interesting, that it is something constructed, and that it isn’t just a photograph—no knock on photography.
Were you always drawing as a child? Did you always know that painting was what you wanted to do?
I always had a sketchbook. Growing up in LA, I was always around the film and animation studios and I knew Disney was 20 or 30 minutes away. As a kid I didn’t go to a lot of museums. I was exposed to art through cartoons, film, and comic books. When I was getting ready for college, I decided to study art and try to parlay it into a job in the studio system, creating story boards or backgrounds.
But everything was shifting to digital and I wasn’t prepared mentally or physically. I didn’t have any of the training or education to start using digital tools for art, and mentally, I didn’t know if I was ready to give up on physical, hand-created art in favor of a steady digital career. I graduated college with a painting degree, but nobody painted at the [film] studios anymore. I had to figure out the next step in life and making a living.
Were you painting vintage subjects at in the early days?
I went to college in Santa Barbara, which is this beautiful natural environment, and I did a lot of landscape paintings there. When I graduated, I came to back to the suburbs in LA and I wasn’t surrounded by beautiful surf environments or rolling hills anymore, and I needed material. That’s when I started to pay attention to the culture of the suburbs. Maybe it was Edward Scissorhands that opened my eyes [smiles].
There’s a visual culture to the suburbs: topiaries, hedges, finely trimmed lawns, postwar tract homes, and vintage cars here and there. One of my painting teachers said, “paint what you know,” and that was a good place to start. That’s when I started taking my painting seriously.
Can you talk about your series of the Theme Building restaurant that looks like a space station in the middle of LAX airport?
That was a fun series to do. I started with a one-off painting of the Theme Building because it’s such a dynamic building. It embodies space-age, jet-age travel, and excitement. If you are leaving LA, it’s the last thing you see, and when you return or are visiting LA, it’s the first thing you see.
Up to that point, I had painted a lot of suburban tract homes and decided to paint commercial buildings because those were just as spectacular, if not more, than the modern tract homes. What started as one painting turned into a whole series when I realized the building took on different characteristics at night, and from different angles. I spent a lot of time at LAX and fortunately they didn’t arrest me or hassle me.
I wondered about that, given that you were in the airport parking lots taking photos. Probably not doing plein air painting.
Unfortunately, not setting up my easel and painting there. One of my unspoken rules is, whether I’m painting the suburbs or someone’s house or a major international airport, don’t creep people out [laughs]. Don’t make them feel unsafe. If people are in front of their house, don’t drive by slowly and take lots of photographs. Don’t do that or get weird at LAX [laughs].
If NASA gave you the chance to be a resident painter on a one-way trip to Mars and your loved ones could come along, would you do it?
Yes, probably. It’s Mars! It’s the great unknown! If my loved ones could come along then it would be great. My wife is a huge NASA geek. We geek out with all the rocket launches. Maybe after a year of being on the red planet I would regret it, but I love sci fi and it’s something to explore.
There are many vintage cars in your paintings. If money and reliability were not issues, what car would you want?
There are so many beautiful cars with amazing design and color palettes. With car design, the shell of the car was one thing, with crazy colors and sometimes two-tone colors, and then the upholsterers would put this amazing fabric on the interior. Cars were like paintings on wheels, with something beautiful driving by. Hard to choose, but the 1950 Plymouth Fury [see below] and the classic Cadillac are pretty spectacular.
You live in Palm Springs now, and you’ve talked about how much your environment influences your art.
I’m never starved for inspiration here. Palm Springs is like Disneyland for midcentury modern enthusiasts. Drive down any block, and you will see some of the most spectacular homes. Fortunately, now they are well taken care of and restored, which wasn’t the case 20-30 years ago. I have friends in town with spectacular homes, so I’ve been able to see these homes in person and study how they are designed. That level of understanding takes a painting of them to the next level.
Are you more successful painting fast or slow?
Both. When shows are coming up, I find I paint too slow and will realize that I need to kick things into high gear. That element of urgency helps me make more intuitive decisions. Instead of sitting with it for an additional week, and questioning it, I trust intuition and go after it. Nine times out of ten, it’s the right thing to do. At the same time, there’s something about the creative process, and I don’t want to force things because I want them to come naturally. I try to strike a balance between taking my time and being aware of the deadline.
You are painting subjects that require precision, so that the buildings you are painting look “right.” Are you gridding, projecting, or drawing freehand?
I admire those artists who can freehand it and nail it. I used to grid everything and thought it was part of the artistic process, and that using a projector was cheating or sidestepping something. Maybe it’s a heroic notion that we have to build the image from the ground up. But projecting isn’t as easy as it sounds. While I project [an image onto a canvas] and trace things out, I do a considerable amount of shifting and modifying so the subject makes sense on the canvas. I also start with my own images and modify them on Photoshop. So yes, I project and I have no shame! [I love his unapologetic stance.]
How are you painting straight lines?
I have a yardstick from Home Depot and I’ve cushioned each of the ends so they don’t dig into the canvas. I can lean it against the canvas to get straight lines. If you look closely, the lines aren’t super straight. It’s a fine line between trying to get lines as straight as possible and injecting the painting with a little bit of life in the artist’s hand.
What’s the best advice you’ve received as an artist?
Paint what you know and find that thing you are interested in and pursue it to the very end. Starting out, I was unsure about what I wanted, and planned to enter the “safe” studio system in which I would be an employee and didn’t have to make my own decisions. But I found that it was a nice thing to go on my own and be my own boss. My successes and my failures rest entirely on my shoulders. Early on, I was fortunate to surround myself with kind and accomplished artists who gave me sound advice and were good role models, including Kenny Harris, Michael Sokolis, Kenton Nelson, and Patricia Chidlaw.
Was there a specific show or event that made you feel you reached a level of success?
My first moment was when I got accepted into a group show in LA at the Wacko Soap Plant La Luz de Jesus Gallery. It was the first time something I painted would be hung on a wall in a gallery. Receiving the acceptance letter made me go berserk. That show did well and I sold paintings. That really made me go berserk. Then another gallery gave me a solo show, and so forth.
With each accomplishment, I set my eyes on something more to accomplish. I’ve had my art shown in Paris, which was amazing because I had studied Parisian artists and Impressionists growing up. Showing consistently in LA at the George Billis Gallery and at their New York gallery has meant a lot to me too.
Do you remember the piece in your first group show?
It was a classic car in front of a standard postwar tract house in the [San Fernando] Valley. It was my first time doing something more photorealistic and not so loose and gestural. It hit me that I can paint things that look like they should actually look. People can tell what kind of car this is, what year it is, or track down this house. I think Patricia Arquette bought the painting.
For your recent show, you created smaller works with a more graphic look that complement the larger paintings. Can you describe those?
Lately with my shows, I’ve been focusing on the photorealistic oil paintings that I love doing, but I’m also playing around with gouache paint. Gouache was the medium midcentury architects used to make beautiful renderings of homes. Gouache is forgiving and I like how you can flatten it. The oil medium lends itself well to blending and subtle shifts in tone or color because it stays wetter longer. Gouache [is water-based and] dries really quickly, so you can’t blend really well. It’s more suitable for solid blocks of color which look flatter, as opposed to realistic.
A lot of the homes in this series are a jumble of shapes and have interesting silhouettes. The Frank Lloyd Wright Ennis House has a temple-like silhouette and John Lautner’s Garcia House is like a half rainbow silhouette. I thought it would be cool to isolate them as shapes and blocks. These pieces are smaller, quicker studies.
Who are artists or other creative people you admire or get inspiration from?
Edward Hopper was an inspiration early on for me. David Hockney is kind of the bright California version of Edward Hopper given his reduced forms and how he distilled things. His brighter color palette reflects California. He’s taken that to England, painting the countryside with these electric purple trees and bright orange roads. To see the world through his eyes must be a real blessing.
Switching gears, do you like to cook?
I love cooking! There’s a gumbo dish at Disneyland that my wife and I like. We go to Disneyland a lot. When the parks were closed during the pandemic and we were trying to get back some normalcy, I found a gumbo recipe that was said to be close to the one served at Disneyland. It was quite a process making it, but it was worth it!
I love that cooking allows me to connect to a family member, a location, or a time in life. For me, cooking is similar to art because they both involve creativity and planning.
You mentioned you go to Disneyland often. What’s often?
My wife and I used to have passes and go four or five times a year. When we go to Disneyland, I tend to focus on midcentury aspects. We went to the Tiki Room, which was created in 1955 and is emblematic of the tiki craze. I like the monorail system too, even though the cars have been updated. Mass transit in the sky! How exciting! Every city was going to have a monorail. All of the park’s nuggets of history are exciting to me.
The influence of Disney seems to be finding its way into your painting.
I’ve been fortunate to do some artwork for the Disney Gallery. I created one painting with midcentury cars and the original Disneyland sign. Other paintings I’ve done also portray aspects of Disney in a vintage midcentury aesthetic.
How did you get to be the 2022 Artist for In-N-Out Burger? What does the honor involve?
There’s something unique about In-N-Out and you can’t get it anywhere else. Prior to getting this commission, I randomly thought: How cool would it be to design the image for an In-N-Out Burger t-shirt? I love classic cars and they are all about classic cars. I bet I could do something great for them!
Then a few months later they contacted me out of the blue! It was weird that I imagined it and it came true. It was great to work with them, and they were very collaborative. What’s cool is I will see somebody wearing the shirt—see my artwork walking by. It’s a trip. It’s even crazier when I tap the person on the shoulder and tell them I’m the artist. Half the time they believe me and half the time they don’t [smiles]!
Lightning-round questions: People often bond over food and art, and here are quick questions about both.
Favorite breakfast. Eggs and toast.
Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks? Starbucks just because we don’t have many Dunkins here.
If tomorrow was your birthday and I was going to bake you a cake, what kind of cake should it be? Pineapple upside-down cake [nice consistency with midcentury theme].
Most memorable meal. We went to Tom Colicchio’s Temple Court restaurant inside the Beekman Hotel in New York City. It might have been a five-course meal, but I remembered it as 10 courses.
You’re hosting a dinner party and get to invite six people living or dead. Who is coming and what are you serving? Edward Hopper, David Hockney, Steven Spielberg, Walt Disney, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mary Blair. I’m limiting it to people in the visual arts and design because otherwise it would be a massive dinner party! I would serve a Thanksgiving style turkey seasoned with Indian spices, and I would make Indian versions of the usual sides, such as curried mashed potatoes.
Favorite piece of art you own. I have a pencil drawing of the third or fourth Mickey Mouse cartoon from 1934. It’s called the Dognapper and it has Mickey Mouse and an early version of Donald Duck, so it doesn’t look like he looks now. [It’s very similar to this.]
Most captivating museum visit. The first time I went to the Louvre. I went to see the Delacroix painting of Liberty Leading the People. I was the only person in the gallery, and it was special to have one-on-one time with this massive painting. The painting doesn’t align with my type of work but has such a mood and so much history.
Palate and Palette menu for Danny Heller
If Danny Heller and his wife came to visit, we would take them on a tour of the houses Edward Hopper painted in Gloucester, MA. Then we would offer them a choice of lobster at one of the area’s waterfront restaurants, or this vintage tiki party menu:
Mai Tais
Crab Rangoon
Baby Back Ribs with Coca Cola Barbeque Sauce
Green Goddess Salad
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Where to find Danny Heller (and you should!)
www.dannyhellerart.com and @dannyhellerart
George Billis Gallery
2716 S La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles
166 Main St., Westport, CT
507 West 27th St., NY
La Fiambrera Gallery
Calle del Pez 7, Madrid
Fascinating. I never really thought about the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright on suburban tract housing, but it makes total sense. At first I thought that the images were photos. The house refection in the pool is stunning. So many artist romanticize architecture from earlier eras, Danny Heller's paintings are very refreshing.