Studies

David Diao created these drawings as a study for one of his earliest paintings. To compose each drawing, he bisected a square sheet of paper diagonally and carefully filled in three halves with a different shade of red or purple. The overlapping triangles of layered color reveal subtle variances in tone and depth, forming an X-shape that converges in the center of the drawing.

In a 2015 interview, Diao reflected on Kenneth Noland’s influence on his early artistic practice: “I had this ridiculous youthful arrogance. Noland said he needed to discover the center [of the canvas] to do his work, but he forgot the corners. Here I was going right to the corners, covering the whole ground, including what my elders had missed.”