Diana Ivanova - Poppytent

Diana Ivanova

I paint the close view of tangled forest scenes. Often they have in them bundles, piles, and tent forms of fanciful fabrics. I think the variety of visual material found in natural scenes is well suited to an exploration of the physical properties of paint, of action and gesture. I paint landscapes because when making pictures I am interested in relating space to clusters of material. Another reason to use landscape is its association with exploration and discovery of all things mysterious and exotic. I relate the process of making (and looking at) a painting to the historic narrative of travel to foreign lands and transport/acquisition of opulent merchandise. Similarly, cloth functions alternately or simultaneously as an object of luxury and of portability, synonymous with voyage and exoticism. Visually I am attracted to any object/scene involving fabric and tension. This is why I make paintings about tents, canopies, clotheslines, umbrellas, ship sails, hot air balloons, and kites, which I place in the woods because this is where they belong.