The Artist’s creative journey began at birth: Diana Malivani was born on the coast of the Black Sea, bathed in the riotous profusion of the colours of the Caucasus. Her love as a child for fairy tales and pictures later developed into a desire to convey, to those hearing and viewing her work, the great feeling for nature that enhances her life and the lives of those she loves.
Malivani’s paintings reflect her soul, her love for music and nature, for an infinite variety of melodies and sounds, for shades and colours, for all that nature creates: the rustling of wet leaves and the first rays of dawn, the roar of the sea surf and the scent of a flowering meadow, the flight of screeching gulls and dewdrops on a blossoming rose… As she draws flowers and depicts landscapes (the principal themes of her artwork), deals with marine subjects, creates abstract compositions, and transfers music to canvas (one of the Artist’s main Art Projects bears the name Seeing Music), Malivani strives to share these feelings with others, to share with others a part of her soul.
Malivani is also the author and illustrator of children’s books published in Russian, English, French and German. After many years spent in Europe (especially, in France and in Cyprus), Diana returned to Russia where she now lives with her family.
When, how, and why did you start your practice of art?
My creative path as an artist began at birth: I was born on the shores of the Black Sea, awash in the profusion of colours of the Caucasus. I remember that, since childhood, I was attracted to what was beautiful, and paintings evoked my particular interest. I loved to look, hour after hour, at pictures by the great Russian masters, peering intently at the smallest details of their work and dreaming of one day repeating those visions. Like any child who loves to draw, I always had brushes, paints, and pencils on hand. Gradually, the simple hobby of drawing turned into a kind of mania for painting: “no day without a brush”.
Painting is my special world, bringing me joy, satisfaction, and happiness. For me it is important, above all, to live in harmony with myself, because a part of the artist’s soul remains in each painting created. Each work reflects the artist’s attitude to life, to nature, to everything in his or her surroundings.
It is precisely painting that helps me find beauty in everyday life. A painter looks at the world with “fresh eyes,” like a child seeing something for the first time. This allows me to see what others do not notice, and to draw familiar objects in a special way. The artist can see, feel, and think in a special way, and the task of the artist is to bring a small part of his or her world to the viewer.
What do you like / dislike about the art world?
I am happy to realize that there are far more opportunities for people in the contemporary world, even compared to relatively recently, to come into contact with art in some form or another. And this is extremely important, since it is art, and painting in particular, that forms our brains from a medical-biological point of view (we are talking about the establishment of neurogenic, neuro-sensory connections), and also affects our souls, making Man an inspired being.
I do not like the fact that quite often the hand of the artist is replaced by digital painting, computer graphics; that the participation of a living person in the crafting of art is replaced by the work of computer technology. I also do not like it when art is replaced by pseudo-art in the form of, for example, scattered garbage bags, smashed crockery, rusty plumbing, etc., which can be found in well-known art galleries and international exhibitions.
What’s the best art tip you’ve ever received?
I received the most valuable advice from an artist who appeared and gradually grew in my soul, that is, from myself. It is the advice to always be yourself, never follow the market, and always go on your own path.
What is the most challenging part of being an artist?
For me, painting is an incredibly fascinating and interesting world. We live not only in a world of objects, a world of things surrounding us; we live, above all, in a world of thoughts, in a world of ideas. Art is always an opportunity to experience the unprecedented, to go back in time, to replay and redo things anew. A painting is an experience of what did not happen, or of what could have happened. Art is a self-developing phenomenon, the most complex machine ever created by mankind, a mechanism through which we find ourselves. The power of painting lies in the fact that it gives us choices when life does not. One viewpoint considers contemporary art to be dangerous. But painting is not a school book or a moral guide. In our time, the time of freedom of choice and tolerance, people are free to choose the kind of world they want around them. For me, painting is a special form of thinking that begets life. Painting is a living organism possessing energy and emotions. When creating a picture, a new story is created, to be read by the viewer (the viewer is a co-author), and each person will have his or her own story. A picture by the hand of an artist (not a printout on canvas, not the work of a computer) is not autonomous in itself. It all depends on who is looking at the picture, and the neurochemical processes occurring in the brain in the particular case (I say this as a physician). This is “first-person experience”, or “it seems to me that …”. The evaluation of a picture occurs at the level of sensory perception; feelings that cannot be described in words arise somewhere deep in the subconscious. A person either perceives and accepts a work of art on some powerful level or rejects it, finds it alien; simply speaking, does not understand it.
Where can we buy your art?
I’m represented by some internationally reputable art galleries, such as Singulart and Artsper in France, Zatista in the US, The Artling in Singapore etc. Also, my artworks are offered for sale on Artprice, the leading international art marketplace. The most comprehensive portfolio of my artworks can be viewed on the website of Singulart.
However, the best way to acquire my art (and to take advantage of special customer discounts) is to buy it directly from me, by contacting me by email at diana.malivani@gmail.com or gwr@gwr-group.com
