Paintings | Daniel Bahn

MINDSCAPES – The Sea of Cortez

MINDSCAPES: The Sea of Cortez explores the meeting place between land, water, memory, and emotion. Inspired by the shifting landscape of the Sea of Cortez, this body of work reflects the tension and harmony between desert and sea, stillness and movement, light and shadow.

Rather than depicting literal views, these paintings are interpretations of place—filtered through memory, atmosphere, and feeling. The turquoise blues of the water, the warm earth tones of the desert, and the ever-changing horizon become abstract forms layered with texture, gesture, and movement.

The Sea of Cortez is a place that feels both vast and intimate. Its quiet coves, expansive skies, changing tides, and rugged shoreline leave a lasting impression that is difficult to describe in words. Through this collection, I seek to capture that emotional landscape: the sensation of standing where the desert meets the sea, where time slows, and where nature feels both powerful and restorative.

MINDSCAPES invites viewers to reflect on their own connection to place, memory, and the landscapes that stay with them long after they are gone.

Chromatic Presence

“Chromatic Presence” is an immersive experience that explores the dynamic interplay of color, movement, and emotion. Through bold strokes, layered textures, and hues and value. The raw energy and fluidity of the compositions captures a fleeting moment of expression, where color becomes a living entity, shaping space and mood. This exhibition celebrates the transformative power of abstraction, offering a deeply personal yet universally resonant experience of presence through chromatic intensity.

New Trails

Blue Stain Series

Growing up in Colorado, I am reminded every day of the majestic beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the reason I, and many other people, live here. Nature is a continuum of life and death, growth and decay; but the past few years have seen an unprecedented decline of the pine forests. The little bug the size of a grain of rice that ravages these trees is not new, but the depth and breadth of its appetite is. Wide swaths of forest turn from green to orange in a matter of months as one wonders what may lie ahead.

Is this nature’s way of regeneration?

Is a catastrophic fire inevitable?

What will this habitat look like in 10 years? 50 years?

Is there anything to be done?

These paintings draw from this sense of concern and records the organic forms and the detritus that is left over. Sick trees exhibit a ghostly blue stain that meanders through the growth rings – a stamp or death certificate for that tree. There is also a natural beauty in the stains and the crosscut forms of the trees. I am interested in the formal aesthetics of this environment. The trees had been pillars of strength, offering shelter and a diverse habitat – that has now changed.

MINDSCAPES – The Sea of Cortez

Chromatic Presence

New Trails

Blue Stain Series

Transitions Series

Composite Series

Kinney Series