These Images are Stunning in Colour and Baffling by Design Daniel Forero is the artist putting an uncanny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it quirk on his disarmingly simple compositions, with tropical colour blasts that almost make you miss the challenging twists in the way he combines objects in this conceptual series of images. His visual flair has stood him in good artistic stead in other design areas, including a recent fashion collaboration on PAOM, designing and photographing a bold collection with his signature splashes of colour. “I can’t ignore details”, Daniel laments, but luckily for us this cloud has a rainbow-coloured lining that has recently materialised in the form of this curious series. We got in touch with Daniel to talk about his inspiration, fashion, and the problems of just enjoying the moment. The Plus: You seem to favour simpler compositions, what attracts you to this? Has it always been your style? Daniel Forero: Yes, I prefer simple compositions, I think it’s important to focus on the main idea. I used to do very busy compositions actually, but with time I developed this taste and love for simple/conceptual work. TP: Your work often features unexpectedly combined objects, what inspires these combinations? DF: I really enjoy doing photo illustration. I started my combined objects or concept/image project like 2 years ago. I was very frustrated doing some work I wasn’t enjoying very much. It was a sunny day, a lot of fun things were happening outside and I had to stay in that place doing that work… This frustration made me think of visualising “frustration” and I created my first image “The Cactus/Ice cream”. For some reason I felt that I had discovered the best way to express feelings in an artistic way, and I haven’t stopped creating photo illustrations since. TP: Is it important for you that your works be somewhat witty, or is that just a happy result? DF: I think I have to add a feeling to my work. Most of the times I illustrate negative feelings so I like to “balance” that negativity with a playful environment. TP: Your work seems to have a broad appeal, but who do you think responds best to your style? DF: I don’t really know, I get emails from different kinds of people… Other designers, students, interns, companies and artists who want to work with me, etc. I’m always happy to reply emails no matter who the sender is. TP: After your PAOM collaboration, are there other creative industries you’d like to turn your hand to? DF: That collaboration was so much fun, I really enjoyed it and it turned out very nice (in my opinion). So I’d like to do more fashion-related work. I also really want to get more involved with the music industry. TP: Has your eye for images helped you at all in other areas of life? DF: I don’t know if it helps me, sometimes it’s annoying to pay attention to every single detail of everything. Sometimes I get into details of things and don’t enjoy the moment in the way I should. In those cases it’s very frustrating but there’s nothing I can do about it, I can’t ignore details.
