Diana Thater. Transcendence is expansion and contraction at the same time

During May 2003 Haunch of Venison presented 'Transcendence is expansion and contraction at the same time', the first UK solo exhibition from internationally acclaimed American artist Diana Thater.

The natural world has been a recurring motif in Thater's oeuvre since the early 1990s, bringing the outdoors in and addressing the relationship between modern technology and notions of beauty and the sublime. Equally important is the architectural environment her work occupies.

Based on a fragmentation of landscape, Thater's video and projection installation pieces at Haunch of Venison interacted with the multileveled galleries of the building, bleeding into each other both physically and thematically. The viewer stepped into and part of the works, moving through them while traversing the gallery's stairs.

Thater received her MFA from California's Art Center College of Design in 1990, and holds a BA in art history from New York University. Her recent solo exhibitions include major installations at the DIA Center for the Arts in New York, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Vienna Secession, Vienna and The MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles. She has exhibited extensively at internationally at venues including the Whitney Biennial, New York (1997), Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1999), the Kunsthalle Basel (2002) and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2001).

Thater teaches in the MFA Program at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, and also curates and writes about art. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Diana Thater
Transcendence is expansion and contraction at the same time