Read the full article by Ken Magri at Sacramento News & Review
“I like the terms ‘imaginative realism’ or ‘magical realism,’ though for simplicity’s sake I usually refer to myself as a ‘surrealist.’”
That’s how Sacramento artist Diana Ormanzhi describes her painting style, which places sharply rendered objects into unusual dreamlike environments. In the last five years, after losing much of her art to a house fire, Ormanzhi has assembled an impressive body of work that will be on display at her R Street studio this month as part of the Sacramento Open Studios tour, organized by Verge Center for the Arts.
“People often ask me if my paintings are inspired by my dreams, but no, my dreams are actually quite mundane,” Ormanzhi says. “However, I’ve always been quite the daydreamer and draw lots of inspiration from storytelling, creative writing, imaginative worldbuilding and my surroundings, especially in nature.”
Her images can be especially striking when she exploits the 20th century surrealist trick of curious juxtaposition, which is the odd or unexplainable arrangement of objects in a composition. Ormanzhi’s scenes might depict an octopus holding up a lantern, a man turning into a tree, or a mushroom figure fishing at a stream. By bringing her own visual language to the canvas she pays homage to surrealism.