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Danica Phelps
USA, 1971

The work of Danica Phelps gathers conceptual precedents not only by taking in account economy as a main theme of her work but also in the own practice of the data capture, the exhaustiveness, and in the record of the facts, that have been a main feature of conceptual art.

Since 1996 Danica Phelps has been documenting all of her income and expenses through drawings in a system that becomes increasingly layered and complex. In this system, each drawing is a depiction of a daily activity and documentation of a financial transaction, and each dollar is represented by a single stripe of watercolor: green for income, red for expense and grey for credit.

The result is a huge personal diary, even if speaking of results is hard. First because the work is always in process, and second because the work in itself is almost not a work in itself but a tracing, a document of pieces of everyday life.

She has participated in the Whitney Museum Triennial and has exhibited at institutions such as the New Museum, Hammer Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Fundación La Caixa, and Folkwang Museum, among others.

Her works can be found in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Arkansas Art Center, Daimler Art Collection, Farnsworth Museum, Hammer Museum, Magasin 3 Konsthall, Seattle Art Museum, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Wien Museum, Yale Art Museum, Fundación La Caixa, and Tang Teaching Museum.

 

 

 

Reach, Studio. 2024

Danica Phelps
4 Mortgages January 2024
2025
Pencil on paper
55 x 76 cm

 

Danica Phelps is aware of the passage of time and fully embraces it. However, she also acknowledges that her years of creating physically demanding works are diminishing. As part of this process, she has stopped mounting her drawings on plywood, as transporting such heavy materials has become too difficult. Last year, after receiving a cortisone injection in a shoulder that had been causing her pain for a long time, she felt a surge of inspiration. She decided to take advantage of her regained mobility to create large-scale works, pushing the limits of her body while she still could.

Her drawings had always been relatively small, but after the injection, she felt the urge to expand her reach, both physically and conceptually. At the same time, she has been restructuring her finances with the goal of generating greater income, as the constant lack of money has been a recurring struggle. To achieve this, she decided to use the equity in her home to acquire three additional properties for rental purposes.

These drawings represent the mortgages on those four properties. Each piece translates into lines the immense amount of money she owes to the bank—figures that would otherwise be difficult to grasp. Drawing them is a way of making them tangible. In each piece, Phelps places her pencil at the center of the paper and draws lines outward until she reaches her physical limit, repeating this process until the number of lines matches the amount of dollars owed.

The first two pieces contain approximately 250,000 lines each. These lines are so densely layered that they form a semicircle spanning from the horizon on her left to the horizon on her right. The accumulation is so intense that the paper has torn, creating holes that go through to the wall behind it. These tears became a new challenge, forcing her to work around them, just as her body must adapt to pain over time.

The drawings capture her limits: how far she can go, both financially and physically. They also encapsulate her effort, her reach. In each piece, Phelps introduces the maximum amount of work into the smallest imaginable space. These first two pieces, created simultaneously, took her approximately a year to complete. Two drawings in one year. Two sheets of paper and a pencil. No wasted materials.

The next two works form diptychs: one contains around 350,000 lines, and the other, 500,000. These pieces extend from floor to ceiling and span approximately 10 feet in width. Through this process, Danica Phelps continues to explore her own limits, finding meaning at the intersection of physical effort, financial burden, and the resilience of her body.

 

Danica Phelps
4 Mortgages 2024
2025
Pencil on paper
76 x 104 cm

 

 

 

 

 

Danica Phelps
Reach, Studio
2024
Pencil on paper
304 x 152 cm

 

 

 

Founding. 2022

 

Danica Phelps
July 26th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
101 x 55 cm

 

 

Time accumulates in moments that add up to the present, even if we do not remember the details or most of those moments. Each one is impossible without the previous one and carries all the others with it, shaping us in a way similar to the earth and its strata—millions of years of history piled on top of one another.

A child manifests more and more with each experience until the moment comes when they decide who they want to be. Founding traces this period in the life of the artist’s son through a journey across the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The drawings capture the way the artist sees her son grow, while the lines beneath each drawing document the expenses of the trip—gas, camping, car rental—everything carefully recorded.

If the lines representing the artist’s expenses and income are always vertical and have become a fundamental element of her practice, in this project, they turn horizontal, creating a visual parallel with the visible strata in the geological formations and the landscape.

 

 

Danica Phelps
July 24th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
116 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
July 15th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
104 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 16th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
87 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 18th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
76 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 2nd
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
91 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 19th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
75 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 9th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
104 x 55 cm

Danica Phelps
August 13th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
92 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
July 23rd
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
78 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
July 28th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
89 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
August 1st
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
61 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 11th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
78 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
August 4th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
124 x 55 cm

 

Danica Phelps
August 5th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
124 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
August 6th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
99 x 55 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
July 30th
2022
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
98 x 56 cm

 

 

 

 

The Gratitude Project. 2017

 

Danica Phelps
The Gratitude Project, 23 (National Coalition for the Homeless)
2017
Drawing and watercolor on paper on wood
51 x 50 cm

 

 

“This project arises from the hours I spend, while drawing, listening to the BBC and NPR, hearing the terrible stories of thousands of refugees trying to escape terror and war in search of a safe life. My greatest skill is creating art, so I began auctioning my drawings through Facebook with no starting price, to raise money for organizations working to help.

This has evolved into a project that addresses all kinds of issues that are important to me. And now, with Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, I feel there are domestic issues I would like to contribute to. Each drawing represents something from my life, and the recipient organization of that drawing’s auction is chosen to be paired with it in a meaningful way. The result of each transaction is a diptych that displays the work of each organization alongside the amount raised, in parallel with my daily life.”

Once again incorporating the role of art as a driver of change, Danica Phelps exposes her intimacy, this time establishing a connection between her inner world and external reality.

 

Danica Phelps
The Gratitude Project, 37 (Anti Difamation League)
2017
Drawing and acrylic on paper on wood
41 x 74 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
The Gratitude Project, 28 (Halo Trust)
2017
Drawing and acrylic on paper on wood
52 x 65 cm

 

 

 

Danica Phelps
The cost of love
2011
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
152 x 66 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
Income’s outcome
2013
Pencil, watercolor and gouache on paper
74 x 44 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
June 2017
2017
Watercolor on paper
40 x 69,8 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
August 2017
2017
Watercolor on paper
40 x 76 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
July 2017
2017
Watercolor on paper
15 x 30 cm

 

 

 

Danica Phelps
Making Love with Debi October 8
2004
Pencil on paper
22 x 30 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
Making Love with Debi, December 31
2004
Pencil on paper
22 x 30 cm

 

 

Danica Phelps
Making Love with Debi, November 29
2004
Pencil on paper
30 x 22,7 cm

 

Danica Phelps
Making Love with Debi, September 27
2004
Pencil on paper
22.7 x 30.2 cm

 

 

 

Danica Phelps

Solo Exhibitions

2022
Founding, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid, Spain

2021
Protection Project | Flow Out, Flow In, NO PLACE, Bogotá / Mexico City / Madrid / Stuttgart

2019
Danica Phelps, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
Solo presentation at Drawing Now, Paris. Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne, Germany

2018
Many Drops Fill a Bucket, Luis de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2017
The Gratitude Project, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid, Spain
Hoping to Help, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

2014
Income’s Outcome (Part Three), Patrick Heide Gallery, London, UK
Income’s Outcome (Part Four), Galerie Laurent Mueller, Paris, France
Income’s Outcome, University Art Gallery, Chico State University, California, USA

2013
Income’s Outcome, Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany
Income’s Outcome, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid, Spain

2012
The Cost of Love, Brennan Griffin Gallery, New York, USA

2011
Danica Phelps, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
The Cost of Love, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid, Spain
Bankrupt, Ritter Zamet, London, UK

2009
Mark Down, Nolan Judi Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Drawings About the Present Quickly Become Works About the Past, Kathryn Brennan Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Nesting, Judy Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, USA

2008
Material Recovery, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, USA
Drawings About the Present Quickly Become Works About the Past, Galleria Glance, Turin, Italy
This Time, Last Year, Ritter Zamet, London, UK
Saving Time, NF/ NIEVES FERNÁNDEZ, Madrid, Spain
Now and Then, Gavi Kupta, Chicago, USA
Getting Ready, Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany
Stripe Factory, Sister Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2007
Stripe Factory, Galerie Rotwand, Zurich, Switzerland

2006
Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, USA
Drawing Flowers, Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany
Stretch, Sister Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
India: Two Views, Gavi Kupta Gallery, Chicago, USA

2005
Wake, Zach Feuer Gallery, New York, USA
Galerie Staub (gfzk!)*, Zurich, Switzerland
Galerie Schütte, Essen, Germany
Getting My Money’s Worth, Ritter Zamet, London, UK

2004
Integrating Sex into Everyday Life, Galerie Schütte, Essen, Germany
Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, USA
Writers Trade, Falconer Gallery, Grinnell College, USA
Judy Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, USA
Sister Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria

2003
Integrating Sex into Every Day Life, LFL Gallery, New York, USA
Ten Day Trade, OR Gallery, Vancouver, Canada

2002
Walking 9–5 Amsterdam, Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Artist, Collector, Curator, Spy, LFL Gallery, New York, USA

2001
Trade Two, LFL Gallery, New York, USA

2000
From Barcelona to Krems, Galerie Stadpark, Krems, Austria
Bill Trip, Maine Center for Contemporary Art, Rockport, USA
Bill Trip (Project Room), Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, USA
Walking: From Los Angeles to San Francisco, Michael Martin Gallery, San Francisco, USA

1998
Funny Money, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USA

Group Exhibitions (selected)

2025
Drawn Codes: Urban Notations, Intimate Writings, Drawing Now, FRAC Picardie, Amiens, France

2024
Horizon and Limit: Visions of the Landscape, CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain

2019
Temporality: The Process of Time, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, USA
Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Patrick Heide Gallery, London, UK
Marcia Hafif (1929–2018) Leben=Werk, Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany

2018
There’ll Never Be a Door. You’re Inside, Coleção Teixeira de Freitas, Fundación Santander, Madrid, Spain
Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night, curated by Johanna Braun & Lisa Stuckey, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Los Angeles, USA
Time-Draw, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne, Germany

2017
Oliver Twist, Chapter 2, Rental Gallery, East Hampton, New York, USA
Indirect Representations, curated by Joe Fig, Cristin Tierney Gallery, New York, USA

2016
Wound, 41 Cooper Gallery, New York, USA
Loups, Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, France
Drawing Rooms: Trends in Contemporary Graphic Arts, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

2015
Lists, Drive-by Projects, Boston, USA
Vienna Biennale 2015: Ideas for Change, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria
Creativity at Work, Sun Valley Art Center, Idaho, USA
Color and System, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne, Germany

2014
The Lightning Speed of the Present, 808 Gallery, Boston University, USA
Creativity at Work, Sun Valley Art Center, Idaho, USA
Color and System, Galerie Werner Klein, Cologne, Germany

2013
Zeichnung 13, Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart, Germany
Double Take, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, USA
The Drawing Room, Ursula Blickle Stiftung (Germany) / Taxipalais, Innsbruck, Austria
Artist’s Walks: The Persistence of Peripateticism, Dorsky Gallery, New York, USA
Art and the New World of Work, Stadtische Galerie Waldkraiburg, Germany
Hawk and Handsaw: Twenty Who Knew the Difference, CMCA, Rockland, USA

2012
Storytelling in Contemporary Drawing, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

2011
Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, USA
In Transit, Rotwand Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
Special Guests, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Tenerife, Spain
Broodwork: It Is About Time, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, USA
Selections from the Collection, DePauw University, Greencastle, USA

2010
Pictures About Pictures, Museum Moderner Kunst Ludwig, Vienna, Austria
Everyday, Forum d’Art Contemporain, Luxembourg

2009
Slightly Unbalanced, Huntington Museum of Art, Lafayette, USA

2008
Sign/Age: Lost in the Supermarket, Armand Bartos Fine Art, New York, USA
When a Clock Is Seen from the Side It No Longer Tells the Time, Johann König, Berlin, Germany
The Enterprise of Art, Palazzo delle Arti, Naples, Italy
Linear Perspectives, Center for Contemporary Art, Maine, USA
Collecting and Collectivity, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, USA
Slightly Unbalanced, Chicago Cultural Center, USA

2007
Perspectives 159, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, USA

2005
Line Drawing, Dina4 Projekte, Munich, Germany

2004
Self Evidence: Identity in Contemporary Art, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, USA
Open, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
Home, DUMBO Arts Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Sexy Beast, Ethan Cohen Fine Art, New York, USA
9th Drawing Invitational, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, USA
Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna, Austria
Neoqueer, Center for Contemporary Art, Seattle, USA
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA
Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, USA

2003
I’m Nothing Without You, Platform Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
Living Inside the Grid, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA
Walking Rhetorics, Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna, Austria
New York Drawings, Samuel Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
Subscribe, Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, USA

2002
Bootleg Identity, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York, USA
Special Needs, Verein für Bildende Kunst, Graz, Austria

2001
Domestic Culture, ICA at MECA, Portland, USA
Brooklyn!, ICA at Palm Beach, USA
Going, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Inside the City, Gallery 400, UIC, Chicago, USA
Another Cusp, Colgate University Gallery, Hamilton, New York, USA
Let’s Get to Work, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, USA

2000
Political Life, SALA MONTCADA, Fundación La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain
To Be Continued…, Art in General, Bellwether & Parlor Projects, Brooklyn, USA

1999
100 Drawings, PS1, New York, USA
Document, Hampshire College, Amherst, USA

Museums & Collections

  • Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA

  • Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, USA

  • Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany

  • Kunsthalle Bremen, Germany

  • Museum Braunschweig, Brunswick, Germany

  • Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany

  • Colecção Madeira Corporate Services, Ilha da Porta, Portugal

  • Daimler Art Collection, Berlin, Germany

  • Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, USA

  • Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA

  • The West Collection, USA

  • Birbragher Collection, Colombia / USA

  • Magasin 3 Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden

  • Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA

  • University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, USA

  • Wien Museum, Vienna, Austria

  • Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA

  • Fundación La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain

  • Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick, Germany

  • Tang Teaching Museum, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

  • Teixeira de Freitas Collection, Lisbon, Portugal

  • Banco de España, Madrid, Spain