Diana Oțet

I enjoy approaching simple and seemingly mundane objects, actions, and fragments of reality.

I am an artist living and working in Cluj, Romania.
Particularly preoccupied with the expressive potential of drawing in the context of contemporary culture, I consider this medium, broadly understood, to be particularly adequate for transcribing personal, intimate stories, feelings and thoughts, as well as for constructing arresting, yet subtle visual metaphors of one’s inner challenges and spiritual quests.
However, I define drawing in a less classical manner, as I use various materials and technique in my works, from charcoal to pastel to oil paint, and from academic drawing to collage. My work process consists of focusing upon one topic for long periods of time, as in the meantime the topic itself becomes more clearly formulated in my mind. Therefore, a good way to conceive of my artistic production is in consistent series of works, the creation of which usually unfolds for more than a year.

I like to deal with simple and apparently banal objects, actions and fragments of reality, which obsessively pervade my thoughts, with fragmentary and seemingly commonplace scenes, which I represent in attempts to confer them a metaphysical dimension and symbolic meaning. However, my more recent works are attempts to reach a more sophisticated metaphorical, symbolic quality and to more compellingly affirm the importance of spirituality in our egocentrism burdened lives, as well as the art’s ability to offer, via fantasy and imagination, an insight into one’s spiritual quests and identity revealing challenges.