Background
Daniel Belardinelli was born and raised in Manhattan, New York.
Daniel Belardinelli was born and raised in Manhattan, New York.
Belardinelli had communication difficulties as a child and learned to express himself through artistic compositions. By the age of 15 the artist frequented Studio 54 and Xenon. As a result, he met and was influenced by Andy Warhol, Larry Rivers, Christopher Makos, and Antonio Lopez.
He developed addictions and eventually was able to keep them at bay by drawing and painting about them. The artist continues to redirect his self-destructive urges into his work. The artist has been drawing/painting in large At-A-Glance Journals and they have been a day-to-day pictorial account bearing witness to his life since 1989.
Later, after hearing the voice cockpit recorder of United Flight 93 during an FBI hearing, Belardinelli made a drawing of what the terrorists announced over the loudspeaker to the passengers. The drawing was published in Jere Longman's book Among the Heroes. His other book illustrations include Naive and Abroad Mexico and Instant Love.
Belardinelli was one of three survivors featured in the A&E documentary I Missed Flight 93 (2006). Belardinelli has exhibited at the Outsider Art Fair annually since 1995, and his work has been displayed in the American Visionary Art Museum. In 2001, several of Belardinelli's nail polish paintings were included in the "High On Life - Transcending Addictions" show which was curated by Tom Paterson at AVAM. He has participated in "Revelations and Reflections of American Self Taught Artists," and has exhibited worldwide, but most extensively in Europe and the Americas.
He was listed in "Outsider Art Fair: 10 Artists to Buy Now" in The Daily Beast. Daniel Belardinelli has no formal art training, but is a graduate of City University of New York School of Law. He is an attorney who is licensed by The State Bar of New Jersey (both State & Federal Courts), the Southern & Eastern Federal District Courts of New York State, and The United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. He was an organizer of 501 (3) (c) nonprofit organization The New Jersey Volunteer Lawyer's Association, and has been a featured artist in their annual fundraiser.
He maintains studios in SoHo, NY and Boonton Township, NJ.