ABOUT ME
"Very, very transcendent pieces mixing realism with naturalism and spirituality."
- Maeve Doyle, BBC Art Critic, Curator
"Catarina Diaz is a London-based artist who has become an established figure in the art world, having received multiple awards and recognition from the President of Portugal for her exceptional talent.
Her work has been represented internationally in digital installations, exhibitions, museums, and art fairs, including prestigious venues such as the Saatchi Gallery, The Design District and W1Curates in London, the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, and various art events in London, New York, Lisbon, Brussels, Barcelona, Milan and Rome.
It has also been featured on television shows and in publications such asThe Flux Review, Artist Talk Magazine, 365 Art Plus, House & Garden, TheWorld of Interiors and Vogue.
Catarina creates art pieces aiming at your grasp of inner beauty. Her creative process is rooted in her unique approach that stems from her own creativity, but it ultimately allows for someone else's vision to cometo life.
Her art envelopes the senses slowly, calling for them in subtle but exquisite ways.
Her vibrant and colourful early-life recollections, juxtaposing feminine figurative interpretations with surreal arrangements and London's cosmopolitan life, celebrate life, the nurturing nature and bliss, to quiet chaos and reconnect to essence.
Currently collaborating with other artists, designers, filmmakers, and composers on various projects, her minimalist collages inspire viewers to search for the deeper meaning and embrace the beauty of imperfection, duality, and transcendent existence."
- Rodrigo Chaveiro, Art Mentor, Curator
Biography
I drew and painted since ever, inspired by my very artistic family. I spent my early infancy in Africa, and when I moved to Portugal, at the age of five, my mother, a painter and my very first reference in art, coloured my early memories with a vibrant colour palette of African tones. The deep orange sunsets, the vibrant pink flamingos and the magenta of the bougainvillaea were burnt into my imagination.
After a career in Teaching, PR and International Relations in Portugal, alongside which I was always creating, I embraced the cosmopolitan life of London, which became another daily inspiration for my Art.
A seminal masterclass with Royal Academician artist David Mach opened mixed media to me in a completely unexpected way, and I have never stopped creating since.
As an artist, I relish working on analogue collage compositions on paper and canvas, mixing various media, such as oil-sticks and acrylics. I am now starting to explore digital art and interior design, collaborating with other artists and designers.
I consider my Art an invitation to reconnect to nature and ourselves. By juxtaposing urban life and nature, my pieces aim to evoke contemplation and, ultimately, through its story telling, a return to memories of more serene times as the start of a self-healing and empowering journey.
The enigmatic feminine figures akin to the relaxed presence of the wild motifs express my admiration for the feminine universe and serve as the recreation of my own identity, suggesting that nature can offer us the ability to restore tranquillity in a chaotic world. This is my inspiration: a message of hope and beauty, life and rebirth.
Recent Achievements
In 2021 my work was exhibited on a digital installation curated by W1Curates on Oxford Street, London, and I participated in several exhibitions across Europe. I was also part of a virtual exhibition curated by Voss Gallery, in San Francisco.
I had a permanent solo exhibition in the set of the Portuguese TVI show Cristina Comvida, aired in prime time for a year, and I was invited to be in this programme to talk about my work. I was also featured on the TV lifestyle programme Viva Vida.
The same year, I was represented by M.A.D.S.Milano, exhibiting in their galleries in Milan and Canary Islands, I also exhibited with Monat Gallery in Madrid and had two collective exhibitions in Portugal.
That summer, I also participated in the Focus London Art Fair, with an exhibition at Fitzrovia Gallery and an Art Show at the Saatchi Gallery in London.
I was also represented by Monat Art Gallery at the Art3f International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris in September and by VanGogh Art Gallery at the Art3f International Contemporary ArtFair Brussels in November 2021.
Later that year, I had an online solo exhibition curated by Albe Art Gallery from AbuDhabi, United Arab Emirates and participated in two collective permanent exhibitions curated by São Rafael Galleries in Lisbon, Portugal.
My pieces have also been several times featured on the BBC Radio Host Jo Good's Middleagedminx Vlog, Portuguese online magazines, and iconic British magazines such as House & Garden, The World of Interiors, Tatler, Vanity Fair, London Life Magazines, and Vogue.
The art magazine ArtistTalk Magazine has been featuring my work since their special April 2021 issue"Art in isolation". I was also invited to be a member of this magazine whose publications go to the British Library legal deposit, a part of English law since 1662.
The Contemporary Art Magazine has also featured my work and has awarded me the Collector's Vision International Art Award for outstanding achievements and potential.
The LuxembourgArt Prize awarded me the Certificate of Artistic Merit in 2021.
Furthermore, I was also featured in the Artists Anthology, Contemporary Artists 2021: Madrid Edition, curated by Guto Ajayu Culture, presented at the Fine Arts Circle in Madrid and I was recently featured in the Goddess Art Magazine, the Japanese 365 Art Magazine and The Flux Review Magazine.
I was also interviewed for the Stella's Studio TV Show on Camoes TV, Toronto, Canada.
In 2022 I launched a limited-edition luxury interior design line in collaboration with the Portuguese designer Joana Sá Cabanelas and the brand JUUX. It was represented in several Portuguese designer shops, at Sao Rafael Galleries and the store of the University of Porto.
Additionally, in 2022, I created a permanent piece for the Davis Museum in Barcelona and participated in several exhibitions with Sao Rafael Galleries and MADS International Gallery.
I also participated in a concert/exhibition by the pianist/composer Margin Alexander in Manhattan, New York and I was represented by World Wide Art Books/Artavita at "ArtExpo New York".
In the summer of 2022 I participated in the "A million Squares Exhibition" in Lisbon, curated by Sao Rafael Galleries, ''The Flux Review Exhibition" at the Design District in London, curated by The Flux Review and the Artist Talk Digital Installation in Times Square, New York.
My work was also publicly recognised by the President of the Republic of Portugal, in a special event to honour the recognised hard work of high profile artists in London and worldwide, in June, 2022.
That same year, I participated in the "BOOM" art fair and art show at the Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, curated by Focus Art Fair, and a few more VR and digital exhibitions in Lisbon, London, Milan and Fuerteventura.
In December 2022, I had a solo virtual exhibition curated by HongLee Curators, Paris, and participated at the "Brain Cake-International Art Exhibition" at Casa Milà La Pedrera in Barcelona, curated by M.A.D.S. A.R.T. Gallery.
In 2023 I participated in several exhibitions, including the Pavart Gallery, in Rome, curated by my Portuguese Art Gallery, São Rafael Galleries, the Flux Exhibition at the Design District in London and Picadilly, and the Artist Talk Magazine Digital Installation in Times Square, New York in June and December.
I also participated in the Art fairs Fresh, in Ascot and Start Art Fair, at the Saatchi Museum, in London.
Within a collaboration with the award winning film maker Naeem Mahmood, I exhibited at the Sanctum Soho Hotel, for the Premiere of the film 'Gods of their Own Religion' at Cineworld, Leicester Square, London.
Throughout the year, my work was featured in the 365 Art Plus Magazine, in Tokyo, Japan and the London Artist Talk Magazine.
I have also released new features in the London Flux Review Magazine, on the Spanish Al-Tiba 9 and also in the Portuguese Contemporary Art Collectors Guide, by Sao Rafael Galleries.
“The true use of art is, first, to cultivate the artist’s own spiritual nature.”
– George Inness
