Dana Dion
Dana Dion is a Sydney based artist. She studied art at the Emily Carr University in Vancouver and then moved to London in 1995 where she studied at the Hampstead School of Art. She moved to Australia in 1999 and became a full time artist from 2005.
Dion works on a large scale with painterly verve, an intricate line and a nuanced palette. Honoured with the Belle Property Art Prize, Bowral in 2019, Lloyd Rees award, Lane Cove Xtra Art Prize, Hunters Hill Regional art prize in 2019 and 2018. Three major art prizes in 2017: The $15.000 Gosford art prize, $7.000, Art in the Hills Acquisitive art prize, The Art Extra Guy Warren Art award.
“Painting for me, is meditative: I travel into another world. Awake, alert, fully absorbed in the act of creation - not thinking of anything else”
— Dana Dion
Flower Pot In my Garden 110 x 152cm Mixed Media and Acrylic on Canvas $6600
Flora Mirage 152 x 122cm Mixed media and acrylic on canvas $6950
Bloom 91 x 101 cm Mixed media and oil on canvas in black frame $4800
Rocky Terrain 100 x 122 cm mix media and oil on canvas $4900
Aqua Flora 101 x 152 cm Mixed media and acrylic on canvas $6600
Blue Hues 110 x 100cm Acrylic on canvas $4800
CV
Artist Statement
My work is a personal exploration of belonging within the natural world - not as I see it, but as I feel it when surrounded by it. The energy of the Australian bush, with its chaotic, tangled vegetation, contrasts with the soft, delicate colours that appear throughout. This wilderness, combined with subtle beauty, informs my approach. I use organic forms and textures to reflect the rich complexity of the landscape and my own language of mark making to express the dynamic energy present in both water and plant life.
I love using Bold marks and nature’s soothing colours to create a sense of depth and layering in my work. These layers mimic the constant cycles in nature, where new growth covers that came before, yet the remnants of the past always shake the present reality. Through abstract forms, I capture the movement, growth, and ever shifting essence of both vegetation and water embodying the flux of life itself.
Painting, for me, is not just about expressing what I see, but about engaging with the feeling of being surrounded by nature - a continuous journey finding a place to belong.
Recent selected exhibitions:
Gippsland Art Prize, Adelaide Perry Art Prize, Mosman Art Prize, KAAF Art Prize, Fishers Ghost open Art Prize,
Kings Art Prize, North Sydney Art Prize, ANL Maritime Art Prize Victoria, Muswellbrook Art Prize, Gosford Art
Prize, Hunters Hill Art Prize, Blacktown art prize, Kogarah Art Prize, Outback Art Prize, Cowra Art Prize and
Waverley Art Prize
Recent awards
2019 Lloyd Reece Award - ArtXtra Gallery Lane Cove
2019 Hunters Hill Regional Art Prize / winner
2019 Bell Property Acquisitive Art Prize / winner
2018 Hunters Hill Regional Art Prize / winner
2017 Gosford Art Prize $15,000 / winner
2017 Art in the Hills Acquisitive / 1st prize
2017 HUNTERS Hill Regional Art Prize/ Highly Commended
Solo Exhibitions
2022 2020-2018 2017 2015 2014 2012 Six solo exhibitions at Art2Muse Art Gallery - Double Bay Sydney,
2022 2019 West End Art Space - Melbourne
2023 2019 Milk Factory Gallery Bowral
2017 Without Pier Gallery - Melbourne
Acquisitions and Commissions
North Sydney Council - mayor’s office
Lifestyle Manor building Bondi NSW – Commission of 27 art works
Oakhill College collection