Galerie Marguo

Blossoms on the Branches, Flowers in the Sky (2025) reflects Dianna Settles’ ongoing exploration of existing within a collective, portraying the intimate ways culture and community intertwine. Bringing together loved ones to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the composition collapses multiple moments into a single poetic frame—a hallmark of the artist’s practice.

The painting holds both past and future: loved ones gathered in red for luck, fireworks prepped to pierce the night sky, and the presence of the artist's daughter preparing to celebrate their very first New Year. Living far from neighborhoods with large Asian communities, Settles reflects on the quietness that surrounds the holiday in her immediate environment—where jubilation can feel out of place or misunderstood. The ritual thus takes on deeper resonance: an assertion of joy and cultural belonging within spaces that do not always recognize it.