Diana Motta

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Diana Motta (she/her) earned her BA from the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (the Higher School of Advertising and Marketing) in 2007, a master's degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU in 2010, and has just gained her Masters in Fine Arts at SAIC.

Diana Motta most recently exhibited her works alongside art mogul Marina Abramovich and with some of the greatest Brazilian artist of all time, like Portinari, Di Cavalcanti, Leonilson, Beatriz Milhazes, Volpi and many others at the emblematic cultural center Farol Santander, in São Paulo. Diana has won many art prizes and is part of important private art collections in Brazil and recently joined the Real Tinsel Gallery Flat File Collection in Milwaukee, WI.

She exhibited her works in solo exhibitions in Brazil, including at the Zipper Galeria and MuBE Museu Brasileiro de Escultura (both in São Paulo) and Gallery Antônio Sibasolly (Anápolis). She participated in group exhibitions in Chicago and São Paulo, including at Sulk Gallery, Stasia’s Gallery, and 308 Gallery (all in Chicago); Galeria de Arte Andre, and Galeria Mamute (all in São Paulo). She has won first place at the fourth Salão Internacional de Artes Plásticas SINAP/AIAP, and third place at the 22° Salão de Artes de Mococa (both 2015).

Outside of the studio, Motta deals with being a spiritual influencer, a kabbalah scholar and being a professional astrologer, as well as being a columnist for Harpers Bazaar Brazil. Originally a figurative painter, Motta shifted her practice towards abstraction as she began questioning the relationship between body and spirit. Transparency and translucency of color in her work reference the thin veil between our physical bodies and the spiritual world. She finds that playing with material and technique creates a juxtaposition between spirituality and sensuality. The body is thus a vehicle to the spiritual. Inspired by Brazilian modernists Tarsila do Amaral and Maria Martins, Motta’s practice finds strong roots in her Brazilian upbringing, where exploration of faith and spirituality is encouraged.

Awards: Third place 22° Salão de Artes de Mococa, Mococa, BR (2015); First place IV Salão Internacional de Artes Plásticas SINAP/AIAP, São Paulo, BR (2017). Publications: “Trusting the Process: An Interview with Diana Motta,” by Thomas Love, Sixty Inches From Center, 2024. Exhibitions: Solo: "The Vessel," 121 Art Space, Taipei, TW (2025); "Heaven Touched," Ivory Gate Gallery, Shanghai, CH (2025); "And Listen to the Wind Blow," Zipper Galeria, São Paulo, BR (2016); "Sobre O Segredo," Galeria Antônio Sibasolly, Anápolis, BR (2015); “Passagens”, MuBE Museu Brasileiro de Escultura, São Paulo, BR (2014). Group: Flat Files Collection, Real Tinsel, Milwaukee, WI (2025); "Storytime," Staias Gallery, Chicago, IL (2025); "Rosas Brasileiras," Farol Santander, São Paulo, BR (2024); Graduate Exhibition One, SAIC Galleries, Chicago, IL (2024); "Channeled 8," Sulk Gallery, Chicago, IL (2024); "Rosas Brasileiras," Farol Santander, São Paulo, BR (2023); "The Bonefire of the Vanities," SAIC Galleries, Chicago, IL (2023); "The First Show," Stasias Gallery, Chicago, IL (2023); "Work In Progress," 308 Gallery, Chicago, IL (2022); "Abstração em Fricção," Galeria de Arte Andre, São Paulo, BR (2022); "TPBB (Truly Post Bachelorette Baby)," Crit Space, Chicago, IL (2022); Post-Baccalaureate Annual, SAIC Galleries, Chicago, IL (2022).

I am a professional astrologer. I am a spiritual scholar. I am an artist.

My spiritual practice and being an astrologer is more than a job for me, is a way of life. I live by spiritual principles and so its natural that these principles and concepts also started showing in the paintings.

Ive been through miracles stories in my life that completely changed my awareness and the perspective I view things. In a way, I am always trying to capture this zest, this feeling of awe, surprise and revelation.

It's like I am constantly challenging myself, but at the same time I need to know when to rest.

My process of painting is a battle between having control then losing control, trusting and letting go, and going trough this process all over again. The idea of magic and beauty are present through the process because what I do is a total surrender.

Like my astrological chart readings, I have to pay attention to every single detail of the chart, make them work together as a whole, and make sense of all the information in a bigger picture and create a narrative out of it. The same process happens in the painting. When I do a chart reading I see past lives and reconnect them with the client's present life. I believe the process of layering in my painting works in a very similar way. The final images are built with so many layers like an alchemical process in motion, it's about anticipation, living in between worlds, living above time where the process of creation is at play.

That’s where my astrology work and my paintings intersect. The processes are exactly the same.

My paintings have to do with composition, speed, surface. How I apply the properties of paint into the canvas through time, the relationship of my body with the canvas. I use my intuition flow to dictate and construct the compositions. I am interested in organic gestures inspired by organic forms and how I abstract them from nature and from my surroundings. I am looking for representations of truth which are a constant shift of polarities, it's a battle between temptation and transcendence. My practice is a relationship with the unknown, it's based on chance and evolution.

It’s a complete surrender.

The whole process of building an image is a miracle to me. I am constantly going against my doubts and fighting my anxieties. And that’s how and why the miracle is revealed. Thats also when I know the painting its finished and its completely revealed. Its an act of total devotion.

I've been through many elevated consciousness situations in my life, like foreseeing the future and miracle stories that science and physics cannot explain. Not only I want my paintings to express this experience but I want the process as I am painting them to be this experience. That’s what my paintings are, I am dealing and connecting my work with spiritual laws. I believe in similarity of form. So if the process of painting was a miracle story for me, then my paintings are more than just paintings, they are objects of connection.

There’s a cabalistic principle that a I apply in my life that’s its called restriction. I also apply restriction in my paintings. I am not interested in my paintings making sense at all. So I restrict figurative shapes to reveal themselves into the painting as much and as long as I can. After I restricted them so much, and they still insist to come in, I reevaluate the whole picture to see if they belong there. If that’s the only solution, and they belong there, then I know its the time to let them in.