Born: 2001, Lagos, Nigeria
Based in: Houston, Texas
Website: danielyisa.com
Instagram: @vipyisa
Biography
Daniel Yisa’s path into art began as a child tracing images — a quiet practice that, over time, evolved into something vital. While studying biology in college, he found himself pulled toward a different kind of system: one rooted in emotion, internal movement, and transformation. That shift, from science to expression, reshaped his identity. “Art became a bridge between the emotional and psychological landscapes I once kept compartmentalized,” he explains.
Much of his work carries that duality: intellectual curiosity interwoven with raw feeling. He describes life itself as the motivation behind his practice — a constant source of energy and reflection that drives him to create. “I see art as both expression and conversation—a visual language that allows me to connect with viewers on a visceral level.”
Artistic Practice
Yisa’s process leans into acrylic for its flexibility, a medium that allows him to “layer, distort, and build texture” in a way that mirrors the emotional terrain he explores. His work is marked by subconscious flow, intuitive response, and soulful restraint. “Often, it feels like my pieces create themselves—I simply allow the process to unfold.”
Psychology, transformation, and self-reflection run through much of his work. Recurring symbols — life, death, balance, emotional release — emerge as visual tools to articulate tension between chaos and control. “I’m interested in internal shifts,” he says, “how people process emotion, identity, and personal change.”
Influences range from Carl Jung to artists like Chogiseok and Henri Alexander Levy, but his deepest inspiration comes from the human mind — “its complexity, contradictions, and potential for healing.”
Exhibitions & Projects
Yisa’s first solo exhibition, Skeletons and Souls (2023), was held at Moth Art House. The show included Ego Decay, a pivotal piece that he describes as representing “a transformative period in my life—an experience of shedding the identity I had built in order to uncover who I truly am beneath the surface.” That painting became a marker of growth through surrender, a meditation on unraveling as a path toward clarity.
He’s now preparing for his second solo show, When I Open My Eyes, opening June 28th.
Artist Statement
“My practice is a continuous dialogue with the human experience—its fragility, resilience, and the complexities of emotion. I explore universal themes that invite introspection and connection, working with materials like acrylic, wood, foam, wax, and even dirt. I embrace imperfection and rawness in my process, mirroring the chaotic beauty and unpredictability of life itself.”
When I Open My Eyes delves into liminal spaces between dreams, sedation, and awakening. It’s about emotional presence, detachment, and the blurred edges of reality — moments where time fractures and the self becomes both distant and intimate. The works reflect “a tension between clarity and confusion, light and shadow, stillness and disruption,” and Yisa hopes they serve as a mirror: “When viewers encounter my work, I want them to see me — my questions, my confessions — but more importantly, I want them to see themselves.”
