Diana Roig

‘The mind is like a richly woven tapestry in which the colors are distilled from experiences of the senses, and the design drawn from the convolutions of the intellect.’ (Carson McCullers, American writer, 1917-1967.)

McCullers’s famous line, uncannily, is near perfect in describing Diana’s most recent paintings and, we surmise, the way in which they arrive. Sinuous, linear arabesques of paint trails weave to and fro from multiple centers –there is not a central one– of concentrated zones, as if vine branches were interconnecting different flowers and a palette of Hibiscus blue, Hydrangea pink, Orchid yellows, etc.

These are abstract paintings, but it is very difficult to avoid their organic correspondences: roots, vines, branches, stamen, in sum forms always ‘growing’, dying down and growing up again. To return to McCullers, here natural growth corresponds to thought, memory, recollection and reminiscence, Diana’s own of course, but freely offered to others to compare. Join in and it is a rich exchange, all you could ask for and more.

Unsurprisingly, these paintings grew up during an extended stay back in Argentina, and matured back home in Holland, perhaps rooted in both, as is Diana.

We should add that these paintings were made after a long hiatus, painting set aside, in which her large drawings mapped out courses where the paintings could next move on: many of these, independently, are very fine works…as well as a firm declaration of her overall ambitions from the start