FINE ART Diana Dzene

“One art critic called my paintings the closest to a feel-good movie. I wear this comment proudly.”

I am a painter from Riga, Latvia – a country by the beautiful Baltic Sea in the Northern part of Europe.

My paintings tell my stories. A memorable conversation with a dear friend that stays in my mind as “that night when I used the Italian tablecloth” and becomes a painting with the same title. A hike around the mountains meeting amazing people and thinking about it on the way back on a “ferry on a lake”, a crazy trip during which my lunch was the only constant – “pasta forever”. And more.

As a teenager, I painted over the basement walls of my parents’ house in an attempt to copy old masters and learn from them. The interest also led me to painting on porcelain under the apprenticeship of the Doctor of Arts Inese Brants of the Academy of Arts in Latvia.

I hold Bachelor of Arts from Bournemouth University. After studies in the UK, I moved back to Riga, Latvia. Starting 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. It led me to the Art Student League of New York in January 2017 for the Anatomy and Drawing course with Peter Cox.

I then studied oil painting techniques with Valery Baida, a graduate of the prestigious Russian VGIK and a member of the Artists Union of Russia.

Over the last years, I’ve exhibited at art shows in Latvia, the US (NYC), Italy, and various online art exhibitions.

In the winter of 2021 I spent couple of months in residence in Bellagio on Lake Como, Italy. By the end of it I painted “Green chair with a view” – a work chosen by London Art Biennale show in London, UK as one of the three artist representatives of Latvia.

My paintings have been a choice of art collectors mainly from the US, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Italy, and the UK. My paintings are available online at Saatchi Art Gallery, at my studios in Riga, Latvia and Vienna, Austria, and at the Valentinarte Art Gallery in Bellagio, Italy.