Diana Sexton creates complex multi-media installations that combine elements of painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and action art in order to explore ideas of connection and meaning-making. Deeply rooted in the discipline of semiotics, Sexton’s interest in meaning-making is largely concerned with the imperfect conversions between the realms of experience, memory, and communication. The present installation works serve as a multi-disciplinary experimentation in language construction, aiming to synthesize an artistic language capable of expressing deeply personal elements of the human experience.
Sexton’s installations are centered around large-scale abstract paintings, in which raw canvas serves as a field for vibrant color and urgent mark-making. Successive layers of paint testify to the organic development of the painting, mimicking the ongoing confluence of experience and
memory, while various drips, splatters, drawn marks and sgraffito echo the physical presence of the artist in motion. Surrounding the paintings are frameworks of assemblage sculpture, made from found objects and recycled materials that introduce a subtle language of surface, form, and
accumulated history. The delicate process of assembling these installations, which requires the careful balancing and stacking of objects and paintings together, creates a temporal dimension to the work. Sexton uses the forces of gravity and friction as mediums with which to create a continuous tension, inviting the viewer to engage with the work as still-present action rather than a static object.
Sexton’s work, as a result of an intentionally intuitive and stubbornly personal process, stands as a rejection of the ideas of superficial connection and relational performativity. Instead, the work presents a sense of raw-edged confessionalism that aims only for deep, authentic connection.
Bio
Diana Sexton is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker working in Austin, TX. Sexton received her Associate of Arts from Austin Community College and is currently completing her BFA in painting at Texas State University. Her work has been shown in galleries across central Texas, including McLennon Pen Co. Gallery, Lockhart Post Gallery, Throughline Gallery, and the FL3X Space at Texas State University, and she has won several awards for her work. When not on set or in the studio, she can be found reading, playing with her cats, or dangling from a trapeze.
## Reception: September 19, 2025 | 7–9 pm
