Diana is a video and installation artist. Also Diane is a talented curator, writer and professor. She teaches an intense summer class at The European Graduate School. Diana Thater a native of San Francisco, was born in 1962. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Diana Thater’s first solo was outside an art school in 1991 at the Dorothy Goldeen Gallery in Santa Monica in California. The show was called Dogs and Other Philosophers. She has exhibited extensively throughout North America and Europe, with one-person exhibitions including the Dia Center for the Arts (2002), and the Wiener Secession (2000).
Diana’s work explores chronological qualities of video and film while escalating it into space. She is best recognized for her site-specific installations in which she influences architectural space through stressed interaction with projected images and light. Diana’s installations make her well known for the mechanical aspects of media representation, contemplating the relationships and intricacies of a technologically-mediated nature. She does this during an investigation of the relationships and ecosystems created through and without human beings, animals and technology, stressing what she considers to be the most impossible event of nature that is free of culture. Her primary interest is exploring the relationship between humans and the natural world and the distinctions between untouched and manipulation. Her work closely resembles landscape paintings. Diana has a distinctive imagination that combines literature, animal behavior, mathematics, and sociology.
Diana says about her work on Human/Nature Project:
“Art changes the world by changing the way you see. People can change the world through conservation, but we have to realize that the way the world is depicted also changes the world. That’s what’s interesting about this project. There is a certain percentage of people who will say, ‘Ah! That’s beautiful! What is that?’ And you can change the world that way.”
Diana’s work is exceptional. I enjoy all the colors, shapes and textures she visualizes in her work. She puts a lot of thought into each one of her pieces to make sure it is the best thought out visually.
http://www.thaterstudio.com/
I think installation work is incredible because it involves so much work and dedication and time. She has a pretty great vision and I love the human/nature idea. Great post, Ruth!
ReplyDeleteIs it mean of me to say i don't really care for her work? Is there something i learned? There was actually a ton. I loved her use of space, framing, objects of focus, but for the most part, her message was solid and boring. Her ideas were well thought-out and uninteresting, and the combination of techniques were artful but tiresome.
ReplyDeleteI try not to sound like i know everything there is to know about art. But there are so very few artists out there that i actually "like" their work. Even though i can still appreciate every aspect of the idea and techniques.
In particular, I enjoyed watching "Between Science and Magic." She does some very interesting things with framing in this work, the most obvious of which is the border of the theater frame. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the image was bisected. Not just the movie screen mind you, the entirety of the shot was divided in two. The two halves were only slightly off, so the effect created an intense feeling of tension and anticipation within me.
ReplyDeleteI like how Thater can convey her message or theme through use of related images without actually stating the theme. I understood from her Chernobyl installation that she was focusing on the environmental effects on the animals as well as humans. She did do well in her installations by incorporating the architecture, I wouldnt mind walking through one. I enjoy nature so her focus was in tune with mine, she relied heavily on outdoor shots and they helped to easily reveal the purpose of the films I watched.
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