In The Can
Spraintings By Daniel V. Lindberg…
When Redding artist Daniel V. Lindberg first saw someone painting with spray cans, he thought it was the coolest thing. That was a live demonstration at the district fair in 2015, and 22-year old Lindberg immediately pursued it, this being one of the few forms of art he’d never tried before. It took him two weeks to learn the basics, and within a year he was giving live rattle-can painting demonstrations himself.
“I was surprised how quickly I picked it up,” he says. “I watched a couple of YouTube videos, and spent a couple of weeks in the backyard, trial and error, adapting what I learned into something more my style.” So began Spraintings: spray + paintings. Lindberg’s new venture evolved over the next five years from an occasional admirer’s offer to buy, to professionally commissioned murals for local businesses and government. His work can be found all over Redding. A sprainting of his hangs outside the historic International Order of Odd Fellows Building, one of Viva Downtown!’s Eight Arches for Eight Artists beautification project.
Lindberg’s success in rattle-can art is no surprise to anyone who knows him, going all way back to the beginning, according to his mother, Kate Lindberg of Anderson. “He was a very creative baby. We could see it as soon as he could manipulate objects,” she says. “By the time he was in first grade he took up violin.”
They knew they had a performer on their hands when he drove the production of a second-grade play. “Dan led those kids. He was definitely directing them,” says the proud mom. “He used the curtain from our shower.” Over the years, they saw many manifestations of his creativity. “Performance, music, theater, visual arts – it didn’t matter what discipline. He kept looping from one to the next,” she says.
Lindberg looped through ceramics, oils, acrylics, hard crafts, vinyl, bonsai and aqua scraping. “I like painting random things I call doodle art. I paint what I want,” he says. “It’s cartoony and can be anything. It really gets my creative juices flowing.”
But it’s spray painting that took off for him. “I started fast, speed racer painting, like the rest of them,” he says. “But my technique has evolved to a slower process, because I have more control. People can’t believe the fine details you can get with a can of spray paint.”
While he’s made his mark in the visual arts, he’s also an accomplished performing artist. A few years ago, while sprainting at home, Lindberg assembled a band, played in it, and managed a tour all the way up to Seattle, according to Mom. “He set up the venues, promoted the shows online, everything,” his mother says. “They made their expenses. They even recorded a CD.”
He began performing music with a local Old Time Fiddlers Association at the same time he was studying business at Shasta College. His primary instrument was upright bass, his secondary the mandolin. “I started not knowing how. I had no teacher,” he recalls. “They took me under their wings and eventually I got a teacher and changed my major to music.”
Of all his disciplines, his mother has a preference. “My favorite way to see him is in the theater, in a play,” she says. “It seems to come so naturally for him and he’s so happy doing it.”
Even with Spraintings projects queued, Lindberg just closed an appearance at Riverfront Playhouse in the play “Clue.” He was Mr. Green, you know, in the… place, with the… weapon. He’s already signed up to play again next spring in “Young Frankenstein.” “I’m actually the monster. No lines, but I’m going to be tap dancing,” he says.
Lindberg hopes to raise enough money to someday open a gallery and spray-painting studio in Downtown Redding. Through this he wants to bring awareness to the importance of public art, and give other artists opportunities to pursue their own passions.
Spraintings by Daniel V. Lindberg • (530) 722-5875 • Find Spraintings on Instagram
