Get carried away and step into a world of color! For nine days in October (01 -09), the world-renowned Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta creates an enchanted world full of a kaleidoscope of colors with over 550 balloons. Hosted within the custom-designed 360-acre Balloon Fiesta Park, it’s a “beautiful, magical moving picture show of hot air balloons sailing silently through the crisp fall air.”
Marking its 50th anniversary this year, this breathtaking annual event features everything from balloon rodeos, twilight balloons, music, competitions, Balloon Fiesta art, and more.
From its modest beginning in 1972, the first-ever Balloon fiesta featured 13 hot air balloons to a crowd of 20,000. Now, the Balloon Fiesta is one of the most photographed events in the world and attracts approximately 800,000 visitors to the park over nine days.
Chuck Jones represented Orange County artist, Daniel Killen and has been the Official Balloon Fiesta artist since 2018. Selected to create four poster images for the iconic Fiesta, Killen incorporates the Looney Tune characters made famous by the four-time Academy Award recipient, Chuck Jones in each of his designs.
When Daniel Killen was selected, he was “thrilled to have been chosen by the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta to represent the spirit and the joy” over a four-year period.
This year, the Chuck Jones Gallery is taking the scenic route and will be on Main Street (main tarmac) with a Pop-Up gallery. If you’re attending the Fiesta, stop by and say hello to Michael!
The Chuck Jones Gallery is selling a limited number of hand-embellished Artist Proofs through the galleries and online HERE. Reach out to your consultant or contact [email protected] for more information and to reserve yours.
Watch Daniel Killen discuss his work on the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta HERE.
ABOUT DANIEL KILLEN
As a child, Daniel Killen created creatures and worlds out of clay, cardboard, and any other items lying around the house. His love for creating grew to include illustrating and painting all of which set the course for his life’s goal of being an artist.
His artistic career began with creating designs for a t-shirt business, but in his spare time, he was working as a freelance artist designing theatrical backdrops and props used in CBS afterschool specials, produced by his Emmy-award-winning brother, Michael. He was given the opportunity through a Disney artist to produce clean-up line work for Western Publishing on Walt Disney licensed creations. This included work on Little Golden Books, featuring Mickey Mouse and Goofy, the Pocahontas Giant Activity Book, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame coloring books. Daniel’s work has consistently been accepted into visual design competitions, including the Orange County Fair, where he has won numerous first-place awards. Daniel’s latest book illustrations can be found in the 2013 children’s book Lessons from Sarah the Cat for a Southern California Charity, Pathways to Independence.
Daniel worked in Feature Animation for many years in Hollywood. He would do freelance illustration and painting on the side and finally made the leap to gallery artist with his work hanging on the walls of showrooms locally, and nationally. Now producing artwork for the Disney Parks Galleries as well as the Disney Cruise Line locations, he keeps his painting style sharp and clean, with his rich color palette, whimsical mood, and understated humor being the main focus of all his work.
Daniel now works with the Chuck Jones Gallery bringing to canvas such inspired Warner Bros. properties as The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story, The Iron Giant, and the classic Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and the Road Runner. Greatly influenced by such artistic giants as Norman Rockwell, Edward Hopper, Frank Frazetta, and Chuck Jones, Daniel incorporates sly wit, poetic beauty, and adventurous themes into his work. He brings his whimsical sense of humor, pleasing colors, and clever layout to all his creative endeavors. In 2018, Daniel was chosen by the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta to create the poster for the 2018 Fiesta and to conceptualize and execute the designs for future posters leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the Fiesta in 2021.
Daniel lives by two inspirational quotes from French Director Robert Bresson: “Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen. “, and “Bring together things that have not yet been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so.”