"Though I have cast art in many different mediums, worked with various subject matter and made art for the public and private arenas, I think the connecting thread is an obsessive concern for clarity of form and precision of surface detail. By creating work which is almost jewel like in conception and execution, I hope to draw the viewer in to my way of seeing the world." — Diana Moore
Diana Moore is a figurative sculptor who works predominantly in concrete. She is inspired by ancient figurative sculptures from diverse cultures such as Etruscan, Greek, Egyptian, and Cambodian. Moore's use of concrete pays homage to the ancient Romans who used the medium for its strengthening properties in their architectural constructions. In her figures and portrait heads one can note a similar strength and resilience inherent within the works. The portraits and life-size sculptures are frontal yet neutral, the organic quality of their medium lending to the ambiguous nature of their ethnicity and gender. Moore deliberately creates "generic" sculptures in order to highlight their universality and timelessness.
In her Earth Etchings, Moore is inspired by the bold and colorful patchwork stretches of land only visible from high above and has created a stunning and refreshing new visual proposal. These uncommon works of form, color and texture offer the viewer an opportunity to appreciate the landscape less as a depiction of reality and more as a unique configuration. Each piece is an amalgam of gypsum, cement and a binding agent, reinforced with fiberglass allowing for light-weight relief. Dry pigments and glazing are used to create a jewel-like surface of texture while preserving clarity of form.
Moore is best known for her several monumental depictions of Justice commissioned by the United States General Services Administration for the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building and U.S Courthouse in Newark, New Jersey in 1994, the Warren B. Rudmen U.S Courthouse in Concord, New Hampshire in 1997, and the John M. Shaw U.S Courthouse in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1999.
Diana Moore was born in Norfolk, Virginia. She attended Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, and the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She’s exhibited her work at the Fresno Art Museum in California, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, Italy, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has received solo exhibitions at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, the Jersey City Museum, New Jersey, and the New Jersey State Museum. Diana currently lives and works in Santa Fe.