Artist Statement: 

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LIST

1. I document to remember; to create a moratorium for the things I have observed.

2. Ask: if halted, would one still know the taste?

3. Single out: Remarks, Recollections, Imaginations, Et Cetera.

 

QUOTIDIAN

There were three rooftops scattered about the state. One was by far the best, on which every kicked pebble was instantaneously transformed from tar-covered stone into gold. For a brief period there was no separateness or aloofness between the rooftop and the lights. If you stretched your arm out far enough, you could reach the sidewalk below, the stillness of the streets, and the white roses parked beside those streets. The air lifted itself through windows and buildings; the emptiness of the darkness did not weigh heavily inside of you. Awash in delight–there’s not much more you can do but look out. Stated in the sleepiest script, there is distance on the map, even between words. Again, step back and down, and down again. Off of a curb, close eyelids slowly and open them to see the lightening screaming. Screaming with faces bent and hiding. This time the objective is to outrun, to really stretch legs out far and fast enough to get away, without warning–just barely feeling the bite of the stones beneath your weight.

 

TUG OF WAR

–See the blunted, empty countryside?

–What I can see is the flatness. All I can decipher is this flatness, and the gentle    shift of planes.

–These works are invented backdrops, imagined spaces… exercises in design.    

  They describe desperate notes and paper lacking depth–

–What a timorous system to verify want!

 

 

Biography:

 

Diana Behl earned an MFA from The University of Iowa, and a BFA from Bowling Green State University. Her current body of work often assumes characteristics of a diary or logbook, referencing both memory and narrative. Personal iconography alludes to metaphor and humor, while the physical accumulation of collaged material and amassment of drawn marks suggest reflection on these themes.

 

Her works on paper have been featured in the Western Edition of New American Paintings (Volume 66) as well as the 2004 New American Paintings MFA Annual. She has exhibited works at the Sioux City Art Center (Sioux City, IA), Lux Center for the Arts (Lincoln, NE), Soo Visual Arts Center (Minneapolis,

MN) and the International Print Center New York (NY, NY). Her mixed media images are also featured in The Drawing Center’s online Artist Registry and Viewing Program.