The human figure takes center stage in Diane Eugster’s contemporary impressionistic paintings that blend realistic and abstract elements in seamless and beautiful compositions. She approaches each work in the same way a movie producer builds a film, by creating storyboards and narratives that help compose the painting. This also allows Eugster to focus on the heart of her works, the emotional content and connection that viewers feel from her subjects.
The Seeker, oil on panel, 16 x 16"
Eugster elaborates, “All of my work is from photos because the poses that excite me, the models can’t hold for very long. I go through an entire process where I hire someone—my ideal girl is 15 years old to early 20s—and I get an entire storyboard together as if I were going to produce a movie. I am pulling pictures and things that go together and create a scenario.”
An added layer to Eugster’s artwork is her fluid and graphic mark making. The works feature geometric shapes as well as experimentation with brushwork and paint, allowing the artist to stretch her own artistic boundaries and pushing the work to new levels.
Summer Spirit, oil on panel, 24 x 24"
Take for instance her painting The Seeker, which depicts a model the artist worked with while living in Las Vegas, who was a free spirit and world traveler. “She was living this unbelievable life. She’s just seeking and out there going from place to place,” explains the artist. “I just saw this girl thinking as she walks through this world of beautiful stuff, or a beautiful paradise.” Surrounding the model, who is in profile looking off the right of the canvas, is a cloud of graphic shapes that seem to envelop her from behind and then open up as she thinks about what is ahead.
The Messenger, oil on panel, 24 x 24"
In another painting, Summer Spirit, Eugster had a very specific story planned. The woman depicted, who is pictured holding a broom with her back to the audience, is “a spirit who walks the fields with the hot summer sun beating down on the grass and her.” Her outfit is her uniform and the broom is what she uses to clean up any number of messes that happen in the world. She is a helper who is there to “sweep it out.”
Vantage Point was inspired by seeing an art student and model coordinator for the Scottsdale Artists’ School set up his own spot in a past art class. “It was super crowded that night, and it was hard to get a spot to see and he was way in the back. He stacked the stools up to sit on and draw. I took a picture of him and when I got home I painted,” Eugster explains. “[The surrounding elements] are what’s going through his head looking at the model and the proportions and all of the art-related things. He’s getting this vantage point so he could see the model and sketch.”
Vantage Point, oil on panel, 24 x 15"
Eugster is represented by Meyer Vogl Gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. In June, she will participate in the gallery’s exhibition Love Story, where artists were asked to paint new works featuring one of the subjects they return to over and over again. For Eugster, it’s the farm girl, which she relates to hard work, determination and self-efficiency, as well as the wholesomeness of family life. —
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