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Dianna* Settles

@platonicyouth

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Lexington, Kentucky
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The sun and I and everything in between this world that was once a luminous archive of things evolved and adapted in slow-moving specificity
2026, 32”x24”x1”. acrylic, georgia clay, and colored pencil on panel. Part of my solo presentation by @marchforwardmarch at @independent_hq back in May. by @platonicyouth

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2 days ago

Lexington, Ky—Come and join Aaron and Tom on October 13th @institute193 as they welcome @december4legalcommittee to discuss the new book DEPOSE: Luigi Mangione, the Right to Health, and the Unfinished American Revolution from @illwilleditions as well as the homie @platonicyouth who provided the immaculate cover art. We’ll also be screening Deny, Defend, Depose from @stanyakahn

Ticket link in bio! by @platonicyouth

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20 days ago

Meet 2026 Joan Mitchell Fellow Dianna Settles, a Vietnamese-American artist from Blue Ridge, Georgia, currently living and working in Lexington, Kentucky.

Settles writes: “I am a figurative painter whose compositions arrange portraits of both the living and passed into personal and communal records, creating semi-imagined presents and futures. Examining the political, cultural, and metaphysical aspects of collectivity, these compositions gesture towards a plethora of potential arrangements of a life worth living.”

Settles received her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2014. She has had recent solo exhibitions at MARCH (New York, NY), Galerie Marguo (Paris, France), MARCH (New York, NY), and Institute 193 (Lexington, KY). Settles has exhibited at the Knoxville Museum of Art (Knoxville, TN), The Carnegie (Covington, KY), The High Museum (Atlanta, GA), and Le Consortium (Dijon, France), among others. Her work is in the permanent collection of the ICA Miami (Miami, FL), X Museum (Beijing, China), and the Longlati Foundation (Hong Kong, China). Learn more at @platonicyouth and diannasettles.website.

Pictured here:
1: Dianna Settles, Flourishing fully-flowered forgotten lawns sprawling and peopled teetering globe balancing us furnished worldly palms for holding to touch that which won’t be persona or jailed or sequestered or loved in that object way, 2025. 48 x 32 x 1 in.

2: Dianna Settles, Our work will be done when we can give these young ones a new world, a different world. I must be committed to the birth of that new world, which like every delivery will be painful and at the same time joyous, 2025. 8 x 32 x 1 in.

3: Dianna Settles, What’s left? This season of heat and wind, this dinner tonight, and those large bands of trembling waves of various shades of green that split my heart with their incredible beauty. We’re witnessing the last days of civilization as we know it., 2024. 32 x 48 x 1 in.

4: Dianna Settles, Good is the reckoning that uses no tallies and does no counting, 2023. 32 x 48 x 1.5 in.

5: #DiannaSettles

All artworks are acrylic and colored pencil on panel.

#JoanMitchellFellows Four people sit on a grassy lawn reading, writing, or sketching in this vertically oriented painting. A dog digs a hole near a fifth person who stands near a sign reading “Children Live Here” and a board covered with notices. A cobblestone road runs across the lawn in the center of the composition, and a person sits on the roof of a rusted-out car on the far side. Four people stand and a flock of 27 sheep graze on the lawn, which spans the top third of the composition. by @platonicyouth

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a month ago

✨Announcing Deposebook.com✨

Featuring original artwork by @platonicyouth : “There are always two worlds. How do you find the questions before there are consequences to not answering them?” (2026). Signed, first-edition prints of this incredible painting are available for a limited time only, order at deposebook.com.

“Depose: Luigi Mangione, the Right to Health, and the Unfinished American Revolution” is written by @december4legalcommittee, published by @illwilleditions and distributed by @mitpress

A portion of every book and art print sale goes to grassroots healthcare initiatives and Luigi Mangione’s official legal fund, until he is free.

(Painting depicts a freed Luigi alongside a burning gallows and something like 75 figures, spanning struggles throughout history, from the Paris commune, Haitian Revolution, American Revolution, Fergson, George Floyd rebellion, WTO protests, Hong Kong 2019/2020, and more) by @platonicyouth

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a month ago

“Reading” (detail), 2026. 5 color lithograph with watercolor and gouache. One of four editions of color lithographs that I made for my show Facing Snow at @neueweltxyz that opens this Saturday 9/5 from 5-8pm and is on view by appointment until 9/27. Thank you to the @kyfound4women for the grant I received to buy color inks, new rollers, and other materials needed to get my basement litho studio up and running, to my friends who helped me assemble it, to my friends who helped me stay mostly sane over the last several weeks of piecemeal working during naps and late hours. Thank you to @maurobarreto._ for asking me to do the show and above all to Keelan for helping me steal away the hours to make these prints. I’d missed working on stones and this was a great chance to jump back in. Prints will be available soon through @marchforwardmarch - more on that soon. by @platonicyouth

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2 months ago

MARCH is over the moon to share news that Dianna Settles has been named a 2026 Joan Mitchell Fellow.

The Joan Mitchell Fellowship annually recognizes and supports 15 US-based artists working in the evolving fields of painting and sculpture. Encompassing long-term financial support, skills development, and community building, the multi-year Fellowship structure provides critical resources that artists need to sustain their practices.

The Fellowship provides each artist with $60,000 in unrestricted funds, distributed over the course of five years. The financial support is interwoven with learning, peer engagement, and network-building opportunities, tailored by staff based on the artists’ interests and feedback. The offerings include in-person and virtual convenings; workshops on finance, legacy planning, and self-advocacy; and consultations with arts professionals. The depth of each artist’s participation directly impacts their experience of the Fellowship.

When asked about the award, Settles said she envisions a transition from “working within constraint toward building a more materially rigorous, conceptually integrated, and ambitious body of work over time.”

IMAGE: The year the fires would not stop and the world was under war-shadow. The blue black message at the end of the garden is garbled. Meanwhile we’re supposed to be here among pine trees and nice breaths of fresh air, 2026, acrylic and colored pencil on cradled wood panel, 32 x 24 x 1 inches.

@platonicyouth @marchforwardmarch @joanmitchellfdn #diannasettles taken in Joan Mitchell Center by @platonicyouth

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2 months ago

Institute 193 is pleased to announce the August meeting of the Lexington Still Life Club. Join us on Sunday, August 23 from 3-5PM for a still life designed by Seedleaf (@seedleaflex). This special collaborative edition of Still Life Club is brought to you with the support of CivicLex’s Porch to Porch Club Mini-Grant program, which funds club collaborations in Fayette County.

Bring your favorite materials and a friend (or two) and build your skills amidst a community of likeminded artists—all while learning about local food systems. All ages and experience levels are welcome. See you there!

@seedleaflex @civiclex.ky @institute193 @platonicyouth by @platonicyouth

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2 months ago

Please join us Sunday, July 5 from 3-5pm for the next meeting of the Lexington Still Life Club. This month’s still life will be provided by Zillah Smith. Bring your favorite materials and a friend (or two) and build your skills amidst a community of likeminded artists. All ages and experience levels are welcome. See you there! taken in Institute 193 by @platonicyouth

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4 months ago

Today is the final day to visit Independent! Visit us in Booth #202 to explore Dianna Settles’ presentation.

Dianna Settles
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴., 2026
Acrylic and colored pencil on panel
32 x 24 x 1 inches

DM for more information + inquiries.

@platonicyouth @independent_hq @marchforwardmarch #diannasettles taken in Pier 36 NYC by @platonicyouth

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5 months ago

Dianna Settles at the INDEPENDENT. Booth 202. All installation photos by Cary Whittier. DM for more information.

@marchforwardmarch @platonicyouth @independent_hq @c_whittier #diannasettles taken in Independent by @platonicyouth

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5 months ago

Please join us this Thursday for the opening of Independent, where we’ll be presenting new paintings by Dianna Settles in Booth #202.

Contact info@marchgallery.org for more information + the preview.

Dianna Settles
𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘬𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱. 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴., 2026
Acrylic and colored pencil on panel
32 x 24 x 1 inches

@platonicyouth @independent_hq @marchforwardmarch #diannasettles taken in Pier 36 NYC by @platonicyouth

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5 months ago

9 months of Zuzie Rabbit 🌼🐇 by @platonicyouth

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6 months ago