Danielle Rante is interested in exploring historically idealized notions of landscape and capturing the relationships between light, land, and paper. She looks for environmental shifts that feel larger than herself: subtle changes in light as the sun moves across the sky, the stark arctic contrast of Iceland, the geologic juxtaposition between rock and water. For her, these scenes and locations invite introspection and rumination on the complexities of human-place relationships, ecology and environmentalism, and the topographic history of a place.
This body of work is influenced by the landscapes of Japanese woodcut prints. The interlocking forms, gradients, and vertical structure of distance give way to an easy and comfortable reading while being in counterpoint to any westernized perspective. Open areas give way to space being interpreted as both a broad swath of time and a singular moment. These prints often depicted significant sites in folklore where magic deities are thought to reside, building a wonder and fear into these images. The history of the supernatural in a landscape is a theme that persists throughout different cultures and is explored in her research. From the nearby mysterious ancient mounds of the Adena culture in her southwest Ohio home to the elves that inform environmental decisions in Scandinavian countries, she looks for where magic crosses over into reality.
Danielle Rante has participated in exhibitions nationally and internationally, notably K. Imperial Fine Art (San Francisco, CA), International Print Center New York (NY, NY) and both the China Art Museum and University of Art Museum in Shanghai.
Rante has completed artist residences at Headlands Center for the Arts (Marin, CA); Fine Arts Work Center (Provincetown, MA); Nes (Skagastrond, Iceland); Kala Art Center (Berkeley, CA); and Jentel (Banner, WY); Arteles (Haukijärvi, Finland), among others. She is a three-time recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and her work has been featured and reviewed in significant publications such as New American Paintings and San Francisco Arts Quarterly. She is represented by K. Imperial Fine Art in San Francisco. Rante maintains a studio in Dayton, Ohio with her two assistants, Kiki, puppy in training, and Kanga, seasoned studio veteran.