Diana Dzene

At a young age I started with painting over the basement walls of my parents’ house in attempt to copy old masters. It led to painting on porcelain under the apprenticeship of the Doctor of Arts Inese Brants of the Academy of Arts in Latvia during my teenage. After a while, painting took a very close place to my heart, making it impossible to live without it. I soon started to soak up as much information and skills I could, learning and practicing painting on canvas daily (since basement walls indeed are not something easily available wherever one goes).

My paintings are a result of my travels and memories, resulting into a story. Sometimes it is a story that never happened. My art searches the details of places that immediately ignite a feeling – an association with something familiar or a memory of something. And they resonate with those having a story of their own with that particular detail of the place.

One art critic called my paintings as something that is the closest to a feel-good movie. In times likes these, I wear this comment proudly.

I am a self-thought artist. Starting from the year 2014, I was lucky to exhibit in castles and manors across Latvia and in 2015 March received an Excellence award at an international All Women 2015 art exhibition. In 2015 summer, I was honored to join a group of Latvian professional painters of various associations at one of the most known plein air gatherings in Vestiena, Latvia. Because of time spent there - head and heart full of new knowledge and ideas - by autumn I was a student at the University of the Arts in London – Central Saint Martins, learning about painting techniques and colors with Rodger Gill. A year later I met a Latvian-American painter who shared about his studies at the Art Student League of New York in 70'ties. His stories were so inspiring and encouraging, that the course of coincidences and my passion for art led me to Art Student League of New York in January 2017 for the Anatomy and Drawing course with Peter Cox. I now study oil painting techniques with Valery Baida, a graduate of the prestigious VGIK and a member of the Artists` Union of Russia.

From July 2020 my paintings are available online, in my studio in Riga, Latvia, and at the Valentinarte Art Gallery in Bellagio, Italy.

September, 2014 - Igate Castle, Limbazi (Latvia).
January, 2015 - Saatchi Art Showdown, online exhibition of emerging artists (US and UK)
March, 2015 - Light Space & Time Gallery, online exhibition of winning artists (US)
April, 2015 – Ungurmuiza Manor, Cesis (Latvia).
May, 2015 - Mezotne Castle, Mezotne (Latvia).
July, 2015 – StartUpArt online emerging artists platform exhibition in MoodGallery (Latvia).
August, 2015 - Open Air Saulkrasti, biggest emerging artists open air exhibition in Baltic States (Latvia).
February, 2016 - Mezotne Castle, Mezotne (Latvia).
May, 2016 – open creative space and coffee shop Coffee In, Riga (Latvia).
June, 2016 – Reka Kalns plain air show, Madona (Latvia).
July-December, 2016 – a beauty and art concept space Kitchen Hair Lab, Riga (Latvia).
July, 2017 – beauty and art concept space Pinka, Riga Old Town (Latvia).
September - November, 2017 - Ungurmuiza Manor, Cesis (Latvia).
November, 2017 - Conception Arts art fair, Manhattan, NYC (US)
July, 2018 - Reka Kalns plain air show, Madona (Latvia).
July, 2019 - Marina 2019 Biennale, Jurmala city annual art exhibition and contest (Latvia)
March, 2020 - Riga City National Street Art Exhibition (Latvia)
May, 2020 - Nude Tin Can art gallery online art exhibition (UK)
December, 2020 - The BROAD magazine and The Curators art contest and online exhibition "Vision" (US and France)
February, 2021 - The London Art Biennale, an online exhibition of participating artists.