About
My work embodies a profoundly relational world view. In these constructions, whether they are construed by viewers as abstract or narrative, individual elements are equally animated and sentient. Bodies move in space and through time. I find them both funny and fearsome.
My practice has three interactive branches, each feeding and informing the others. I am painting and drawing almost daily, then recording images for the animations. The resulting stop-motion footage, generated in drawings or fresco-like painting on plaster, with its erasures and revisions revealed in the completed digital medium, is a meditative ritual through which I acknowledge life’s essential impermanence as well as its durable illusion of solidity.
While this personal practice is solitary or managed with an assistant, collaborative installation works with other artists begin with a shared idea and have evolved over the last twelve years to include performance, music, text, animations and sculptural elements.
EDUCATION:
1990 M.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1990 M.S.W. Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1983 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri
1981 B.A. Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
SOLO & COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITIONS:
2022
Rule Gallery, This is the Only Day, Marfa, TX, October 2022
Chicago Cultural Center, An Instrument In the Shape of a Woman, Chicago, IL, 2022
2020-2021
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Birth Death Breath Inflatable Opera, Installation collaboration with Jeanne Dunning, Chicago, IL
2019
Terrain Biennial Exhibition, Hourglass Grief Quilt, Chicago, IL
Northeastern Illinois University Gallery, The Difference Between Looking Down and Looking Up, Chicago, IL
2018
Armory Center for the Arts Caldwell Gallery, Birth Death Breath Inflatable Opera, Installation collaboration with Jeanne Dunning, Pasadena, CA
Boggs School, Good Bones, collaboration with Shoshanna Utchinik and Interstate Arts, Detroit, MI
South Bend Museum of Art, Sentient: Animations by Diane Christiansen, South Bend, IN
2016
Elmhurst Art Museum, Birth Death Breath Inflatable Opera, Installation collaboration with Jeanne Dunning, Elmhurst, IL
Terrain Exhibitions, Dear Stuff or The Small Stupa of Letting Go, Installation with Shoshanna Utchenik, Oak Park, IL
Museum Outdoor Arts, Englewood, CO
2015
Glike Gallery, Culver City, CA
Rule Gallery, Breath Exchange, Denver, CO
2013
Kasia Kay Art Projects, Cup Freaketh Over, Chicago, IL
Edinburgh College of Art, Solo Exhibition of Paintings and Animation,
Edinburgh, Scotland
2012
Popps Packing, The Woods, Installation/performance with Shoshanna Utchenik,
Detroit, MI
2011
Kasia Kay Art Projects, Enough Space in the Head to Breathe, Chicago, IL
2010
Hyde Park Art Center, Notes to Nonself, Installation collaboration with Shoshanna Utchenik and animation collaboration with Matt Marsden, Chicago, IL
Herron Gallery, Notes to Nonself, Indianapolis, IN
Kapsula, Notes to Nonself, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2009
Kasia Kay Art Projectsm, Spring Is The New Winter, Chicago, IL
2006
Gescheidle, Chicago, IL
2005
3Arts Club, Chicago, IL
2002
Augen Gallery, Portland, OR
Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997
Locus Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1995
St. Cloud University, St. Cloud, MN
1994
Second Street Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Charlottesville, VA
1992
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & FILM FESTIVALS:
2020
Rule Gallery, Soft Landing, Denver, CO
Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Picturing, Chicago, IL
2019
Water Music on the Beach, Hourglass Grief Quilt dragging and beach stitching, hosted by 6018 North, Chicago, IL
Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Nature vs Everything, Collaboration with Shoshanna Utchenik, Michigan City, IN
2018
LVL3, Local Comfort, Chicago, IL
2017
Randy Alexander Gallery, Drawing, Chicago, IL
2016
Thomas McCormick Gallery, How Much Land?, Chicago, IL
The Wheel House 2, Chicago, IL
Heaven Gallery, What is the Message, Chicago, IL
2015
Sonnenschein Gallery, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL
Elmhurst Museum, New American Paintings, Elmhurst, IL
Woman Made Gallery, Document, Chicago, IL
The Franklin, Chicago, IL
Sydney Underground Film Festival, Sydney, Australia
Flatpack Film Festival, Birmingham, UK
Carrboro Film Festival, Carrboro, NC
Atlanta Underground Film Fest, Atlanta, GA
Kansas International Film Festival, Overland Park, KS
5th Underground Film Festival, Cork, Ireland
Mirror Mountain Film Fest, Ottawa, Canada
Tally Shorts Film Festival, Tallahassee, FL
GeNerk Fest, New York, NY
2014
Rule Gallery, Denver, CO
National Veterans Art Museum, Surrealism and War, Chicago, IL
2012
New Capital Projects, 24Hours/25Days, Chicago, IL
Rule Gallery, H20, Denver, CO
2011
Shoshana Wayne Gallery,Chain Letter, Santa Monica, CA
Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Associations, Grand Rapids, MI
Walnut Ink Gallery, Michigan City, IN
2009
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, New in the Video Room, Animated Shorts, Pittsburgh, PA
2008
Adam Baumgold Gallery, Road Works, New York, NY
Pop: The Global Citizen, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit, NJ
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Flat Files Inclusion, St. Louis, MO
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, On, Of and About Paper, Santa Ana, CA
2007
Adam Baumgold Gallery, Drawn to the Edge, New York, NY
Gescheidle, Art Club, Chicago, IL
Art Miami, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, NY
2005
Art Miami, Pierogi, Brooklyn, NY
Gallery 400, University of Illinois, Drawn Out, Chicago, IL
Gescheidle Gallery, Group Exhibition, Chicago, IL
2003
Robin Rule Gallery, Group Exhibition, Denver, CO
Carrie Secrist Gallery Group Exhibition, Chicago, IL
2002
Riverside Art Center, Riverside, IL
Keotler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
Carrie Secrist Gallery, Plotting, Chicago, IL
Carrie Secrist Gallery,10th Anniversary Exhibition, Chicago, IL
2000
Marcia Wood Gallery, Petite Physique, Atlanta, GA
Dirt Gallery, The Last Spring, Los Angeles, CA
Carrie Secrist Gallery, New Work by Gallery Artists, Chicago, IL
1998
Margareurite Ostreiche, New Orleans, LA
Northern Illinois University, 25 Years of Women in the Arts, Dekalb, IL
1997
Gallery A, Chicago, IL
1996
13th Biennial Exhibition & Vicinity Exhibition, Evanston, IL
The Ft. Wayne Museum of Art, The Reginal Artist’s Biennial, Ft. Wayne, IN
1993
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Museum, Narratives of Loss, Milwaukee, WI
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2016
Lori Waxman, “Inflatable Art Airs Range of Perspectives” Chicago Tribune, 22 November
Lori Waxman, “Top 10: Old and New Masters in Every Media” Chicago Tribune,
18 September
Lori Waxman, “Blow Up: Inflatable Contemporary Art” Chicago Tribune, 24 August
Tal Rosenberg, “Balloon Mindstate” Chicago Reader, 15 September
2015
Lori Waxman, “A Bumper Crop of New American Art” Chicago Tribune, 13 August
Eve Wood, “Diane Christiansen Glike Gallery” Artillery Magazine
2014
Steven Zevitas, ed., New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Needham, MA
2013
Kelly Reaves, “Diane Christiansen/Kasia Kay Art Projects” New City, 12 November
Konchog Norbu, “Don’t freak out: Chicago artist Diane Christiansen invites her demons in” Shambhala Sun Space, 9 November
Phillip A Hartigan, “Chicago Buddhist Freaks Out” Hyperallergic. 5 November
2010
Michael Workman, “Vanquishing the Octopus of Attachment: The Briefing Room Interview with Diane Christiansen” Gapers Block, 17 October
2010
“Exhibition: Notes to Nonself” Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis,
12 September
Ed M. Koziarski, “Creation, Destruction, Chaos” Chicago Reader, 19 March
“5 Art Shows to See Now” Newcity Art, 11 March
“Review: Notes to Nonself/Hyde Park Art Center” Newcity Art, 8 March
Carrie McGath, “Notes to Nonself at Hyde Park Art Center: The Interview” Fearless Art blog, 5 March
Ryan Walach. “Post-Its and Puppets: Hyde Park Art Center’s ‘Notes to Nonself’ exhibit culminates in multimedia show” Chicago Weekly Online, 3 March
“Notes to Nonself” Time Out Chicago, 1 March
2009
Mary Thomas, “Pittsburgh Center for the Arts’ exhibit spiced with variety” Pittsburgh Post Gazette Online, 27 May
2007
Anne E. Stein, “RenaissanceWoman” Grinnell Magazine, Fall
Steven Zveitas, ed., New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Needham, MA
2006
Michael Workman, “Opening Night” New City, September
2004
Steven Zevitas ed., New American Paintings, Open Studios Press
2002
Heather Shouse, “Sound and Vision” Chicago Social Magazine, September, page 230-31
Max Herman, “Christiansen unleashes her mind on canvas” Chicago Arts & Entertainment, 2-8 August, cover
Alan Artner, Review, Chicago Tribune, August
D.K.Row, “Conflicted creativity” The Oregonian, Friday, 22 February, page 56
2000
Steven Zevitas, ed., New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Needham, MA
1998
Steven Zevitas, ed., New American Paintings, Open Studios Press, Needham, MA
1997
David Rothschild, “A One-two Punch” Chicago Tribune, feature, 21 September
Lloyd Sachs, “Balance in Diversity”, Chicago Sun-Times, 21 September
Bonnie Salomon, “The Face of Brutality” M.U.M., Fall
1993
Rothschild, David, Feature, “Diane Christiansen Can’t Stop the Music…or Art…or Social Work” Chicago Tribune, April
Janice Paine, “Narratives of Loss: The Displaced Body” New Art Examiner, October
1992
“High Visibility” Exhibition Catalogue, Arts Midwest / NEA
1991
Susan Alexis Collins, “Diane Christiansen” New Art Examiner, December
AWARDS:
2014
Vermont Studio Center Residency
Kimmel Nelson Harding Residency
2013
Oxbow Residency
2014
Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist Project Grant
1999
Community Arts Assistance Program Grant, City of Chicago
1997
Illinois Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship
1996
Illinois Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship
1988
Full Merit Scholarship for graduate study, The Art Institute of Chicago