Houston artist Daniel Yisa redefines art therapy

Daniel Yisa is proving that you don’t need to leave Houston to build a career in fine art. You just need to trust the process.

The Houston-based multidisciplinary artist, who works under the name YISA, is behind Don’t Touch the Fire, an immersive exhibition that was featured at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center. It’s the third chapter of “Art Therapy,” a series exploring identity, healing, and transformation. The show blends painting, sound design, and live installation, with models placing pieces in real time alongside hair-and-makeup collaborators.

“I like to describe my work as mirrors, so mirrors of me and mirrors of the viewers as well,” he said. “If they’re looking at my piece and it reminds them of something in their lives, then that is one of the goals.”

Yisa was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2001 and moved to Kentucky at age 5, before landing in Houston in eighth grade, a move he credits with drawing out his creative side. He enrolled at the University of Houston as a biology major, with no formal art training beyond typical grade-school classes. Even then, a middle school art teacher in Houston noticed something and repeatedly asked if he’d studied art before. He hadn’t.

Art reentered his life in February 2023, when he and a college roommate needed to decorate their apartment. Yisa began experimenting with paper, then with bigger framed pieces. An invitation to have models carry his art at a fashion show pushed him to make more. 

His breakout piece, Ego Decay, grew out of a personal health struggle that upended his self-image. 

“It just pretty much restructured my whole identity,” Yisa said, describing how he had to rebuild his confidence from other sources. “That experience now shapes my approach to using emotionally charged work to show that darkness and light are inseparable.”

Yisa committed to art full-time this year after a brief stint working in a lab, and now supports himself through original paintings, merchandise, prints, and curated experiences. He also received a Houston Arts Alliance grant to help fund one of his events, and previously ran “meditative painting workshops” out of a small studio near Hillcroft, teaching others his intuitive, free-flow process.

Despite pressure some artists feel to relocate to bigger markets, Yisa said he has no interest in leaving Houston.

“Houston has enough people to build a community. That’s how I see it,” he said. “My long-term goal is a permanent, immersive space in the city, alongside touring live-painting events elsewhere.”

Trinity Gizelle, a longtime friend, has watched that vision take shape up close. The two connected years ago through Gizelle’s business, where Yisa was a client, and she has since seen his craft and his openness about his work evolve. 

“His most recent work, he’s been creating these canvases that have this 3D effect,” Gizelle said, describing pieces built up with layered materials before paint and shadow are added. “It just grabs your attention immediately.”

Gizelle described Yisa as hardworking and determined, someone who figures out how to make things happen once he sets his mind on something. His decision to build his career in Houston, rather than a more established art market, gives him and the city room to grow. 

“He’s not afraid to step out, bring people together, and grow the community that he’s trying to see,” she said. “The way that he expresses his art influences others to do the same.”

Yisa said Houston’s arts scene has real talent across disciplines but needs more infrastructure to help creatives make a living from their work. Still, he’s committed to building here. 

“Houston will always be home,” he said. “ I have so much to do and a lot to give.”

More information on Yisa’s work is available at yisastudios.com.