Diane Dal-Pra’s paintings engage abstracted possibilities for the female form—exaggerating, contorting, rotating, and cropping bodies and objects in a distinct muted aesthetic that weaves stylistic elements of Cubism, Post-impressionism, Surrealism, and Geometric Abstraction. The artist has also cited Renaissance painting as a significant influence in her practice, and this can be observed in both the style and subjects of her works.
Monochromatic Series
Dal-Pra’s small-scale monochromatic works employ a dominant colour to zoom in on stereotyped gestures and symbols in Renaissance art history. Untitled (Orange) (2021) depicts a poised hand delicately pinching a flower’s stamen with the thumb and index finger in a reference to the 16th-century painting Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses soeurs (Gabrielle d’Estrées and one of her sisters) (c. 1594). Untitled (Blue) (2021) shows a blue-tinged close-up of a feminine hand, fingers slightly parted and suggestively resting within the folds of foliage.
Of Course You Are
Dal-Pra’s examination of the relationships we have with objects—as they shape individual identity, as well as our habits and actions—was developed in the artist’s inaugural solo exhibition Of Course You Are (2020) at London’s Cob Gallery. The series of large-scale oil on linen paintings saw a sculptural treatment of the figure, contorted and obscured with various objects and textiles to become monolithic hybridised assemblages. The artist’s frequent depiction of drapery, garments, and textiles may reference the significance of costume and decoration in identity construction, whilst nodding to Renaissance influences.
Una Vita Cosi (2019) shows a semi-nude female figure lying in an S-shaped pose, her face covered in drapery, and holding a vase of flowers against a simple background featuring a pale pink wall and dark floor. In Everything You Built (2020), the joint of a limb can be glimpsed between within a condensed pile of luxurious fabrics and trimmings. It Belongs to You (2020) depicts a sitting figure swathed in textiles, poised to kiss a taxidermy mount of a ram.
Dal-Pra has stated: ‘Hiding faces and using exaggeration in transcribing the shapes of objects and textiles, by almost making them look like armour, was a way to stress duality ... At the end, we become a kind of totem we design ourselves.’
Acqua in Bocca
For her 2020 exhibition Acqua in Bocca at Galerie Derouillon, Dal-pra extended her surreal figurative compositions across multiple canvases to develop a new sense of visual and narrative continuity. Demonstrating further experimentation with proportion, balance, and scale, with most figure-object assemblages consuming the pictorial space, Dal-pra blends colour, light, and shadow to achieve a dominating sense of volume. The diptych Still or Sparkling? (2020) captures a profile view of two figures seated at a table, their bodies completely covered in an array of fabrics that see them almost blend into the tablecloth, and each other.
Curator Marion Coindeau has written: ‘Dal-Pra’s canvases venture into surrealist territory as they maintain affinities with Magritte‘s masked figures and de Chirico‘s geometric mannequins. The true portrait seems constructed beyond the physical appearance of reality. Her vagabond characters, seemingly lost in thought, reveal costumes that call upon a child’s game or a bohemian wander.’
