Dianne Gall

The isolation of artists is very evident in their daily lives, working in their studios alone with their thoughts and creativity. Sometimes the isolation can’t be avoided, but becomes part of the narrative of the artwork.

No country has been more isolated from the art scene than Australia until recently when the internet brought them closer to the rest of the world. Because Australia understood the impact of art as a means of bringing people together, there are many art prizes and awards available, some of which escalate past the six figures.

One such artist who lives in Australia is Dianne Gall. Born in Adelaide, South Australia in 1964, Dianne received a Bachelor's of Art and Design and a Fine Art degree. She later became the Director of Cube Contemporary Art before launching her own paintings and showing in galleries across Australia, and eventually the USA with Arcadia Contemporary in the Palm Springs Art Fair in 2016. Later in 2018 she was represented by Bernarducci Gallery in New York.

Her figurative oil paintings depict various degrees of isolation. Her use of color schemes and lighting usually having the subject facing away while the roundness and curves of a back is revealed to the viewer. Her subjects are all females. They are usually dressed in very feminine flowery dresses, but with an undercurrent of some ill fate lingering in the corner.

Dianne Gall's realistic figurative paintings are never ending stories, which you may visit over and over again, each time as if you were viewing them the for the first time. Her titles are also well thought out.

In Everybody Knows the mystery of what does everyone know? is left for the viewer to decide. The figurine depicted in the lamp may hold the answer with the lightbulb going off on the top. Notice the nostalgic feel of the work yet the pink hair of the subject makes us realize that this is not a cinematic scene from the 1960s.

Recently she completed two small, rounded commissioned works. Although small in stature from her larger than life works, these smaller paintings pack a big punch. One of these small round paintings, The Arrangement, wesee a headless female facing the same figurine lamp. In this case we see the front of the figurine revealing more of the story. The subject is wearing high heels, and there is an omnipresent element waiting to be confronted. Dianne captures her subjects in time turning them into isolated incidents.

In If I'm Not Perfect by Tomorrow, the subject is positioned with the arm dangling similar to La Mort de Maratby Jacques-Louis David. The use of saturated colors causes contradiction. The viewer is not sure what to think, or more importantly, feel. There is no connection whatsoever. I feel this is her masterpiece. Being able to execute a work which nobody cares or connects with is the ultimate form of isolation.

It is a brilliant piece which only a master figurative artist is able to achieve.