A leading abstract painter in his lifetime, Dan Christensen drew from a range of Modernist sources to produce colorful, luminous compositions that featured giant dots, whirling loops, and grids. Originally trained in classical, figurative painting, Christensen later sought to transcend stylistic restrictions, experimenting throughout his career with an array of tools to apply paint, including rollers, squeegees, brooms, and weed-sprayers. In highly acclaimed early work he used spray guns to paint over square and looping pieces of tape, then removed the tape to create swirls and grids of color with shimmering surface effects. He also painted saturated fields of color under coats of white or dark paint, scraping away some of the top layer to reveal the bright pigment beneath, as well as plaid patterns and calligraphic marks. Christensen considered the works of Jackson Pollock and the Color Field Painters to be major influences on his practice.