DIANA BELENKY | “Painting is my soul language.”
Diana Belenky is an award-winning artist whose primary tool for expression is the emotion of light and color, and texture. Belenky has won several competitions and awards, including the 2020 Martha’s Vineyard Prize and the Posey Grant in Painting. Her work has been included in the de Young Museum and the International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art.
She has exhibited at the International Figurative Art exhibition at the Richeson Gallery and is being represented by 33 Contemporary Art Gallery. She has an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and is a Professor at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco.
THE SOUL OF AMERICA This is both an emotional self-portrait and a portrait of a fragmented America. At 8 pm every night, we Howled. Although Americans were at home and isolated, the human soul cried out. There is a deep primal need for connection. If we cannot touch, our voices will connect us with echoes of love!”
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
This drawing is a response to social injustice. I want the viewer to ask themselves this question “How does it feel to be a black woman in America in 2020? I used texture to evoke an emotional state. The title is meant to be understood with a sense of irony. I am questioning the idea of true Justice.”
DIANA BELENKY | “Painting is my soul language.”
Belenky was born in Minsk, Belarus, and came to the US as a child in 1979.
During immigration, she and her family lived in Italy. It was there that the Italian Renaissance masters made a lasting impression on her. During her studies at The Art Students League and the New York Academy of Art, Belenky developed an understanding of human anatomy, narrative Painting, and color harmony. She later went on to study in a small Atelier with a professor from the Florence Academy of Art.
Belenky’s art combines classical Painting with luminous color, visual mood, and a dynamic modern edge.
“Painting is my personal soul language. It is direct contact with the essence of who I am. I connect to pure emotion and process the experience of being human. I reaffirm the value of life, tenderness, sensuality, and mystery. Despite suffering, pain, and loss, I chose to create images of hope, peace, and compassion. Art is my alchemy.”
– Diana Belenky
