The Painting Center presents the exhibition On the Street: Works by Carol Diamond, which brings together mixed-media works on paper, relief collages (made with various materials, including cement, crushed cans, broken glass, bottle tops), oil paintings and small sculptural assemblages. All the artworks here were done concurrently and attest to Diamond’s interest in working with both traditional and nontraditional art materials. In these pieces, Diamond examines themes of contemporary urban life. Her multimedia abstractions convey the gritty reality of the city’s streets.

History as a hands-on endeavor is part-and-parcel of Diamond’s aesthetic. The work functions as a kind of archaeology even as one realizes that the civilization being unearthed is our own. A quizzical feat, that: digging through time in order to divulge the here-and-now.”

Originally from Cleveland, Diamond received a BFA in painting from Cornell University and continued her studies at the New York Studio School in Manhattan. Settling in Brooklyn in the late 1980’s, Diamond became active exhibiting in group and solo shows around New York City, Upstate New York, and nationally.

Diamond is Adjunct Associate Professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and teaches graphic design at CUNY’s City College of Technology. Awards and Grants include the Pratt Institute Professional Development Grant, a Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letter’s Invitational Exhibition, the National Academy Museum’s Edwin Palmer Prize and a Vermont Studio Center Residency. Her work is included in public and private collections.