San Diego has long been a hotbed of creativity and artistic expression. Here at the Sofia Hotel, we love honoring that heritage by displaying the works of local artists we admire. One of our favorites is the painter Diana Carey, whose creations can often be seen hanging on the walls of the Sofia’s on-site restaurant, Currant American Brasserie.

Carey is a practitioner of what’s sometimes called “gestural abstraction” or “action painting,” where the artist throws, drips, or sprays paint upon a canvas instead of carefully daubing it on. With her physical approach, she seems to draw forth her subconscious into the sometimes-subdued, sometimes-slashing movements of her arms and wrists. As she emphasizes on her website, Carey’s paintings combine the stimulating combination of intent and unpredictability: The result is the “controlled chaos” (as she puts it) of multilayered, multicolored paint expressing bold, visceral, and highly energetic patterns.

Reading Carey’s own descriptions of her process evokes a sense of adventure, spontaneity, and mystery: An unexpected splash of paint, the manner in which the impasto texture emerges, a shape suddenly materializing out of skeins and bands and trickles of pigment—Carey follows her impulses where they lead, even at the risk of losing the thread of original inspiration or destroying a promising impression.

Many of Carey’s paintings are abstract landscapes, reflecting the colors, shapes, and moods of San Diego’s splendid natural scenery—from beachgrass-framed seashore to the twists of wind-sculpted trees.

Carey’s work has found national and international appreciation in major galleries, museums, and private collections. On top of her action-painting adventures, she is the fine-art curator for the Gallery at The Brooks, lectures and heads workshops, instructs expressive art to sheltered adolescents, and publishes poetry. We’re immensely proud to be able to showcase her masterpieces. You can now purchase her original paintings and fine giclee prints via the “Shop” button here at the Sofia Hotel website.

Meantime, learn more about Diana Carey, her artistic vision, and her dynamic technique here at her website.