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[ October 18, 2000 ]
Diane Fenster, a photo-illustrator, uses a computer to explore universal themes of human existence. In her Ritual of Abandonment exhibit, for example, she weaves her
own personal experience into computerized images as a method for exploring the vulnerability and risk inherent to falling in love. Her multi-layered images use soft, lush, dreamlike colors and resemble the work of early surrealist artists as she juxtaposes text, photographs and other mediums to deliver her message.
In her upcoming exhibit, Secrets from the Magdalen Laundries, Diane Fenster explores the secret longings of women forced into solitude by this 19th century convent industry. The impetus for this series was Diane's sense of empathy for these women whose lives reflected her own childhood. Altpick.com spoke to Diane about her work, life, and upcoming exhibit. Who are some of your clients? Viking/Penguin, Prentice Hall, Time, National Geographic, The Washington Post, Inc, Sierra, Prevention, Jump, IBM, Adobe and Apple. 
When did you know you were an artist?When I was eleven years old, I went to the Museum of Modern Art and saw the work of Joseph Cornell and it transported me into another world. I knew then I wanted to be an artist. My parents, coming from the Depression, didn't think it was practical and discouraged me. I ended getting a degree in research biology. How did you make the transition? It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I became involved with graphic design. That felt safer than declaring myself an artist. It was through the use of graphic design and the computer that I came to discover myself as an artist. What was your first big break? In 1989, I started making images on the computer and responded to call for entries for exhibits. My work began to show in different galleries. In 1992 Macworld called me and asked "Why aren't you doing illustration for us?" I said thank you, but I'm not an illustrator, I'm a fine artist. They asked me to bring my portfolio in and eventually they started giving me assignments.
I think somehow there isn't enough going on. What I can see in my imagination, which is sort of a window to the surreal, has always been far more compelling to me than waking reality. What attracted you to the Magdalen Laundries? I felt that there was a resonance between the confinement of these woman and some experiences in my childhood. I felt confined by the structure of my family, in what was permissible and what was not, particularly around creativity. I wanted to address this artistically. Could you talk a little bit about your exhibit? It's a photo installation using sheets and sound. Sheets facilitate dreaming, enfolding the body, carrying its warmth, desire, and perfume. They wrap it in death. I work on discarded sheets to give form to the imaginations that release desire in spite of circumstances. The sheets move from matter to metaphysics, reminding us of the body and its dreams. The portraits from the Magdalen Laundries appear and disappear as you move around them. Viewed from the oblique perspective, the images vanish like the women lost in time. Facing them, they assume their own dreaming existence. How does sound fit in? Composer Michael McNabb will do the sound. It will emulate that kind of chitchat and chatter that would happen between women when they do their chores.  Did he simply execute your ideas of sound? Not at all. I don't feel like he could operate at his best. I have no expertise in sound. I don't think the piece would be anywhere nearly as rich without what Michael could come up with. I feel, in that sense, his vision is important also. We discussed it enough; I feel like he knows where he's going. I gave him a test print of images of women to hang in his studio using a Polaroid process on bed sheet material. He's kind of bouncing off the energy he's gotten from that piece and using that as a starting point.
Current exhibit: Secrets from the Magdalen Laundries will show at Henoch Gallery from October 24th- November 14th.
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-6 - Contributed by Mary Beth Holland >> See other member spotlights on the artist spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
Fenster brings the same aesthetic into her commercial work. For example, when asked to design a book cover for Simon & Schuster's The Third Miracle, she integrated her own personal experience into the project. Says Diane, "The only direction I got from the art director was that she wanted a quality of light." After deciding to base the piece on a location containing a series of inner walkways, she then wanted an image of a woman who would best define the story's heroine, a woman who was soon to be canonized into Sainthood. "Prior to working on this assignment, I was working on a series of photographs about the memories of my mother. One of the out-takes fit exactly the feeling and ethereal quality they were looking for."
