Dianna Settles USA, b. 1989

Dianna Settles is a Vietnamese-American artist based in Lexington Kentucky, who received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2014.Her practice examines ideas regarding collective living and its portrayal in different arenas of cultural or political life. Ranging from jiu-jitsu lessons, protests, or social gatherings, Dianna's work expresses the values and ideologies found in community.

ideologies intertwine in community. Forms are arranged symbolically in poetic compositions, placing portraits of friends into potent moments in time. Bathhouses, prisons, and gathering places are depicted in conversation, while blooming patterns, details, and colors are woven into the scenes. Settles draws from Western tradition, as well as from the art history of her father’s native Vietnam, mindfully synthesizing multiple lineages while recontextualizing marginalized bodies.

Her current work explores moments of joyful stillness amidst the cascading series of crises called modern life, accomplished through her synthesis of traditional Vietnamese and classical European painting styles.  

Recent exhibition highlights include solo shows, A Life Worth Living Would Be A Life Worth Living at MARCH in New York, Olly Olly Oxen Free at Institute 193 in Lexington, KY and A Thousand Paths Bloom at Galerie Marguo in Paris. Dianna Settles' work has been presented in numerous group shows including Galerie Marguo in Menorca, MARCH at the Dallas Art Fair, and MINT in Atlanta. As the inaugural artist of Living Walls’ international exchange program, she completed the 180' long mural To Our Friends / Á Nos Amis in Paris, France in July of 2019, adding to her portfolio of work as a muralist in Atlanta, Oakland, and Pittsburgh. She was a finalist for the 2019 Forward Arts Foundation Edge Award, and was recently accepted into the Atlanta Contemporary Studio Artist Program.

In addition to her own art practice, Dianna Settles runs Hi-Lo Press, a print studio and art gallery based in Atlanta.