Daniel Rivera focuses on creating narrative based sculptures within the framework of furniture design. After receiving his BFA in Art History from the University of North Texas he traveled to San Francisco to study furniture design at the California College of the Arts. After a time in Dallas, TX he attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he received his MFA in Studio Arts with a concentration in woodworking. It was during his graduate studies that his work took on a narrative quality and worked to incorporate storytelling in furniture designs. This took of the form of 1:72 scale dioramas portraying tales and dreamlike events embedded in his furniture designs.
Architectonic forms and narrative storytelling have combined to create multilayered interdisciplinary installations centered on the art of storytelling bereft of text. Through a variation in scales, the dioramas create forced perspective views that draw the viewer close to bear witness to events portrayed before them.