Biography
Daniel’s work examines the ways people experience the world around us. Whether working in national parks or museums or in his neighborhood, he is interested in looking for authentic experiences and the ways we directly interact with our surroundings.
He received his Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Arizona in 2013. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. His work was part of a three-person exhibition titled “Great Basin Exteriors” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Western Arts Federation that was shown in fifteen venues throughout Nevada. Daniel’s work was featured in Denver Art Museum’s “Other People’s Pictures: Gifts from the Robert and Kerstin Adams Collection” as well as in “To Bough and To Bend” at The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University in 2023. He had a solo exhibition at Andrew Smith Gallery in Tucson, Arizona in 2022.
dan@dancheek.com
CV
EDUCATION
2013
2002
1998
Master of Fine Arts, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
Associate of Arts, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids, MI
SOLO OR 2 PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022
2017
2013
2012
2008
2007
2006
2002
Where We Go, Andrew Smith Gallery, Tucson, AZ
The Mediated Landscape, Community Fine Arts Center, Rock Springs, WY
Hodology, with Summer Ventis, Stevenson Union Gallery, Southern Oregon Univ., Ashland, OR
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea, with Neal Galloway, Rombach Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Trees, Graduate Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Benicia/Martinez, CA Photographs, Pulp Lab, Seattle WA
New Photographs, Turn of the Century Fine Arts, Berkeley, CA
Third Street Photographs, Noonan Building, part of “San Francisco World’s Fair,” curated by CCA MFA Curatorial studies program, San Francisco, CA
Benicia/Martinez California, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Abandoned Houses of the West, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
Abandoned Houses of the West, Northeastern Nevada Museum, Elko, NV
American Landscapes, Academy of Art, Sutter Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
2024
2023
2020
2019
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
Upcoming, Under the Sun: The Arizona School of Photography, Steinfeld Warehouse, Tucson, AZ
Impressions in Place, Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Gold Fever: Glory and Greed in the Western Expansion Years, Tucson Desert Art Museum
The Exotic Sublime, Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Other People’s Pictures: Gifts from the Robert and Kerstin Adams Collection, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
To Bough and To Bend, The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
To Bough and To Bend, Bridge Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Legacy of Light, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Journeys, Ph Projects/Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
I would never stand there ever; Daniel Cheek, Karin Davis, Summer Ventis, Hyperlink Gallery, Chicago, IL
Photoworks NW, Umpqua Valley Arts Center, Roseburg, OR
Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
One-Offs, Todd Walker Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Sierra Great Basin Collection: Selected Works, Churchill Arts Council, Fallon, NV
Artists in Resonance, Cara Cabezas Contemporary, Kansas City, MO
ASU Intercollegiate Exchange, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Something Interdisciplinary, Maybe?, University of Arizona Graduate Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Tucsoniana, Lionel Rombach Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Great Basin Exteriors, Daniel Cheek, Adam Jahiel and Nolan Preece, 15 venues, traveling exhibition, Nevada Arts Council’s Nevada Touring Initiative, funded by National Endowment for the Arts
America Now: Daniel Cheek, Ben Huff, Shane Lavalette, Laura McPhee, Alec Soth and Zoe Strauss, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Beverly, MA
Hey Hot Shot, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
San Francisco Grown, Cara Cabezas Contemporary, Kansas City, MO
Winter Selection, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
ARTIST TALKS
2012
2011
Where We Go, Society for Photographic Education Southwest Conference, Fort Collins, CO
Great Basin Exteriors, St. George Art Museum, St. George, UT
Sweetwater Wetlands, Water Resources Research Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
AWARDS
2023
2012
2010
2009
International Photography Grant, 3rd Place Winner, Outdoor
Western States Arts Federation Grant, “Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey” for two out-of-state venues, a catalog & website
Nevada Touring Initiative, funded by National Endowment for the Arts: “Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey”
Hey Hot Shot! Winner, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York
PRESS / PUBLICATIONS
Other People’s Pictures: Gifts from the Robert and Kerstin Adams Collection Catalog, Denver Art Museum, 2023
A Photographer’s Romantic Black-And-White Landscapes, New York Times T Magazine, November 2022
Notch Code Issue, Light Leaked Magazine, July 2019
“Road” Issue 24, Landscape Stories, 2016
Ground|Water – Interdisciplinary Responses to a Dry River, Confluence Center for Creative Inquiry, Arizona, 2012
Great Basin Exteriors: A Photographic Survey, Daniel Cheek, Adam Jahiel, and Nolan Preece, Exhibition Catalog, Nevada Arts Council, 2012
Halcombe Miller, Face and Heads blog – http://faceandheads.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/daniel-cheek-artificial-natural-aka-aspartame-v-sugar/, September 21, 2011
Bornfield, Steve, “Empty West Syndrome,” Las Vegas Review Journal, August 5, 2011
America Now, Daniel Cheek, Ben Huff, Shane Lavalette, Laura McPhee, Alec Soth and Zoe Strauss, Montserrat Gallery, Exhibition Catalog, February 2010
The West, Landscape Stories 02: Snowblind, http://www.landscapestories.net/issue-02, February 2010
20×200.com edition of photograph Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Florida, 2009
“Californian brings camera to Nevada,” Elko Daily Free Press, May 20, 2006
Leaverton, Michael, “Mixing Oil with Art,” SF Weekly, August 1, 2006