Meet Diana Carla Rowe | Contemporary Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Diana Carla Rowe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Diana Carla, how do you think about risk?
I think about risk as an inevitable factor in my career and life. I think as a whole we live in this illusion of stability and or control wether you are working a corprate job or building a business for yourself. Risk is just something we have to dive into and it isnt always a comfortable thing, but once you are committed and willing to handle what comes your way it becomes worth it. Being an Artist is all about risk, creating things that align with you but not necessarily an audience.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a 23 year old, Queer Black Jamaican American Contemporary Painter and Illustrator. I was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in Austin, Texas. My parents immigrated from Jamaica and lived in New York and this inspired me to live in New York. I am most proud of my current collection that I am working on it’s large scale and full of color and life. I got to where I am today by taking chances on myself and putting my work out there despite my own insecurities. I think a lot of artists are silent about the mental toll it takes to create as a career and that is still a challenge for me today, feeling worthy of rest based upon my accomplishments, that is something I will continue to work on. I work in a studio in Greenpoint,Brooklyn and I live in Bushwick,Brooklyn. I describe my work as surrealist automatism as well as mixed media abstractions. My work focuses on black expression and telling stories about the first generation American experience, mental health, love, or catharsis, I often use abstractions of the people around me. There is a repetitive nature that carries through my work representing a kind of ever changing self portrait. These works are often large scale, from 48 in x 72 in to 100 in x 100 in, this allows for a free flowing work environment. I’ve worked with brands like P96 and Early Majority, Home Goods,and Neiman Marcus. I hope to develop and grow my work by challenging myself more. I want the world to see a young black queer woman as a working artist, knowing that it is possible. As a kid revering artists I never saw anyone that looked like me.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love going to the pier in Greenpoint to walk around or watch the sunset, it’s really beautiful there at night as well. There is this really cute restaurant I love called Sereneco, they have beautiful drinks and amazing foccacia bread with this whipped ricotta and psitachios… yeah it’s really good. I also enjoy going to this plant shop near my studio its called Greenery Unlimited.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my Mother Carla Rowe, she has always been the driving force for me to continue creating what I love and believing in my own vision for my work. As an immigrant/single mother she showed me what hard work could look like if I didnt create options for myself.

Website: www.dianacarlarowe.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianacarlarowe/

Image Credits
photograhers : Vincent K Rutherford Yekaterina Gyadu Treysaun Mcgeachy