Diane Leon
www.ArtPal.com/DL4My life and art has been influenced by my decades of travel to Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Switzerland and Greece.
A sense of place is important to me. I am a native New York abstract painter. I grew up in a different time in New York City. Most people see the neighborhood I grew up in as a high profile corporate and luxury condos. In the 1950s, my family lived in a tenement on 53 Street and Third Avenue with the (now gone) Third Avenue El Train. Our apartment had no air conditioning (ha!) and radiator for heat …an old walk up apartment. The deteriorated walls are still in my memories. My work used layers of paint as a buildup of my life and experience . I use color as my visual language. I work in acrylic and inks on yupo paper and canvas.
My art is in collections in the US and europe. I prefer working in an intimate size so I can be spontaneous. I do most of the painting with my palette knife. I begin with no preconceived idea and work until it develops after many revisions. Abstraction gives me a sense of freedom. I consider the work finished when I 'feel' it is right to me. It is an emotional rather than intellectual process.My artwork is a result of place and emotional connection to memories of growing up in NYC in the 1950s and my travels.
I have a B.A. in art history from New York University, School of Professional Studies with honors; M.A. from NYU, Graduate School of Arts and Science; basic traditional art studies at the Arts Students League, 1974-1978; color theory class with Wolf Kahn at The National Academy of Design, NYC and other schools. I have been teaching at NYU, SPS, Division of Applied Undergraduate Studies since 1995 as an adjunct associate professor arts.
I have exhibited in the U.S. Art in Embassies Program, US Embassy in Lima, Peru and have appeared in documentary and newsprint. I share my life with my artist, husband, John. We met at the Art Students League in 1978.
Angelic Presence Collections
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