Diane Dal-Pra’s large scale oil paintings on canvas stress the tension between bodies and objects, scrambling the lines and intertwining areas for an infinite reading. Although dramatic in composition, Dal-Pra achieves a balance in the lightness of her choice of colour and her treatment of details.
Dal-Pra questions the nature of our relationships we maintain with the inanimate objects we collect over the course of our lives. Dal-Pra coats her figures in an armour of these commodities, and in doing so underlines a dual purpose of our possessions which have the capacity to erase or engulf us, and yet so strongly define our identities. The sculptural treatment of her figures, part classical monument, part monolith and part totem sees Dal-Pra transforming the body in objects and, likewise, objects into flesh. Everything seems to take form in an unchanging block, frozen forever.
During the last year, the artist has completed two artists residences. Dal-Pra was awarded the Laureate prize in a completion led by curator Edoardo Monti, spending 6 weeks in the Spring 2019 as artist in residence at Palazzo Monti (Brescia, Italy). In July 2019, and alongside photographer Paul Rousteau she completed her residency in the heart of the Villa Noailles (Hyéres, France) within the frame of an ongoing project.
Diane Dal-Pra (b. 1991) is a French painter who lives and works in Paris. In 2013, Dal-Pra received a BA in Design from the University Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux (France). In 2015, Dal-Pra graduated with a postgraduate in Art from Les arènes, Toulouse (France) and received special mention from the jury. Solo exhibitions include Acqua in Bocca, Galerie Derouillon, Paris (2020 - forthcoming) curated by Nicolas Poillot, Of Course You Are, Cob Gallery, London (2020). Group exhibitions include; ACS (Artists’ Collecting Society) x Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (2019); A Private Matter, LM Gallery, Italy, (2019). Artist residencies include; Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (2019) and Villa Noailles, Hyères, France, July (2019). Upcoming exhibitions include a solo exhibition at Galerie Derouillon, Paris (2020).