When Juan Daniel, a Los Angeles artist, entered the prison
system in 1988, he embarked on an unforeseen journey that
would profoundly shape his artistic expression. At the time
of his incarceration, he was a senior in art school and was
expected to graduate that year.
Undeterred by the limitations of his environment, Juan
Daniel ingeniously captured his prison experiences through
a visual chronicle of sketches and ink drawings. Faced with
a scarcity of materials, he often resorted to using his court
passes as canvases. Resourcefulness became his ally as he
melted plastic chess pieces to produce black ink and
re-purposed fragments of his hair, melting them into a
makeshift toothbrush to create homemade paintbrushes.
Without traditional art supplies, Juan Daniel demonstrated
resilience by utilizing everyday items, such as Kool-Aid
packages, to craft colored inks for his artwork on envelopes.
This prison art journal is a testament to his creativity.
