The Encounter Painting

Diana Dubossarska Artist, Illustrator Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Diana spent most of her childhood years in Prague, Czechoslovakia, before moving back to Kiev at the age of 13. The daughter of a Soviet Army Sergeant Major father and artist mother, Diana always had a passion for painting and illustration. Her worldly travels have been a major influence for creating the diverse compositions exhibited in Diana’s art. Having graduated from the Ukranian University of Culture and Arts, Diana pursued studies at the Kiev Institute of Decorative Art and Design. During this time she also had a career in radio advertising at Prosto Radio in Kiev. In 2015, Diana moved to the United States where she attended the Art Students League in New York. In 2017 Diana moved to Princeton and attended Princeton University studying art history. Under the tutelage of many academic instructors in New York and elswhere in her travels, Diana found her artistic home was in the scene of Naive Surrealism. Her art speaks of joy, freedom and a sense of belonging in a world as surreal as it is enchanting. There is some mystery and a lot of magic in her paintings. “A Fish Out of Water” embodies the surreal and the enchanting. Magically placed within these paintings are colorful fish obviously not in their normal environment, but existing with apparent joy and contentment “outside of the box”, so to speak. I think the message communicated through Diana’s art is a powerful one, more so now than ever before. Let these paintings speak to joyful inclusion and co-existence, let the fish show us the way!