1. Dianna Settles
Who: Dianna Settles (b. 1989, Los Alamitos, Calif.)
Based in: Lexington, Kentucky
Gallery: March Gallery (New York) and Galerie Marguo (Paris)
Why we care: Dianna Settles is a Vietnamese American artist based in Atlanta, where she lives on an urban farm as part of a close-knit community. Her art features vibrant color palettes, poetic compositions, and playful, subtle details, and often focuses on collective experiences. A pivotal trip to her father’s homeland of Vietnam in 2014 significantly shaped her artistic approach, allowing her to depict figures with whom she could personally relate. This journey also led her to develop a distinctive language that blends traditional Vietnamese art with European colonial influences. A sense of in-betweenness marks her art, which aims to reach people who may feel unseen.
Settles thrives on discovering connections across different experiences. Her work often centers on marginalized bodies, using them to convey feelings of alienation that she transforms into sources of empowerment. She captures fleeting moments of joy, isolation, strength, and friendship, aiming to shape these transient emotions into something that is enduring and yet still fluid.
