PHILIP TINARI
Tracing a remarkably varied career, this monograph on the painter David Diao follows his stylistic evolutionfrom abstraction to genre-defying and candid self-exploration. This book accompanies the first full-scale retrospective of David Diaos entire oeuvre. It is a career of twists and turnsDiaos work was originally influenced by the New York School of the 1960s before he became obsessed with the work of Barnett Newman, referencing many of the artists paintings in his own. After a period of restless inactivity, Diaos most recent works touch on his personal history as a Chinese immigrant in America, modernist architecture, and identity politics. In addition to spectacular reproductions of Diaos work over four decades, this comprehensive book features illustrations and essays on Diaos treatment of identity and his aversion to categorization; and analysis of Diaos work as a method of capturing the process of forgetting and the inherent fallibility of art historical memory. Long overdue, this book celebrates Diaos unique vision and art.
