Justine Di Fiore

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Artist statement

I use painting to explore the experience of the body. My work has evolved from a practice of building up images using symbols that illustrate a personal narrative to works that rely on gesture and expressive marks to facilitate the sensation of intimate experience. The use of female presenting figures relates to my experience living in a female body. My relationship to the body has been central throughout the development of my practice. In past work I have sought to present a challenge to idealized images of women and notions of beauty and perfection. My experience with loss and grief has guided my interest in developing a more inward and reflective focus on the body beyond its appearance. In my current work I am exploring an alternative version of perspective toward the human figure that is influenced by my experience working as a hospital nursing assistant. It is a perspective learned through the up-close labor of caregiving, not as a spectator set back and away from the subject. I am using the muscle memory of washing the body, a task I performed countless times as a hospital worker. The quality of touch is central to the various methods I use to apply paint. Through imprints, marks, and gesture I explore the material of the paint as the material of the body. I imbue the action of applying the paint with struggle, tenderness, and care, a process which is both task-like and ritualistic. I aim to create works that speak to the experience of being human through the...

Artwork