Darien Bird

Darien Bird is a painter living in Salem, Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University in 2011. Her work has been exhibited in Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Venice, Italy. Darien's paintings address the lingering influence of male emotion over portrayals of female bodies, identities, and experiences. In her work, she creates tension between sensuality and discomfort, absurdity and realism, dreaminess and distortion. Blending oil and acrylic painting techniques with colored pencils and crayons, Darien aims to elicit a sense of humor and curiosity about misleading examples of representation and their origins.

Collect Bean: What is one of your current goals as an artist?

Darien Bird: To encourage interest in the thoughts and emotions, attitudes, and behaviors we may experience or engage in when we look at women’s bodies and why.

Collect Bean: How do you think your work has evolved?

Darien Bird: I used to approach painting like problem-solving with the objective of aligning content, composition, form, color, material, et cetera, but now I focus entirely on remaining present enough to move through doubt and trust my intuitive process without judgment or attachment to specific results.

Collect Bean: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Darien Bird: I would tell her that she is good enough and to keep painting.

Collect Bean: Do you have a saying that you live by?

Darien Bird: Become that which you would like to experience.

Collect Bean: If you had to describe your work in only three words, what would they be?

Darien Bird: Bold, sensual, exciting.