Artist profile - Dianna Krilova

Dianna Krilova is a Liverpool-based artist who tries to rethink and bring back the power of symbols in art. Born in Latvia, she has been resident in Liverpool for over four years now. 'The focus of my work are human emotions, how feelings are created and transformed', she says. 'Behind our faces there are stories to unravel. I want to tell them through my works. Painting is a montage of colours and objects, pointing to something different. It is a symbol - a mask but also a sign. Eyes, hands, gestures must be read closely, so that we can reach to another narrative and then understand ourselves more.'

'People have told me that some of my paintings are spooky', Dianna drops. 'I think this is because we are not used to responding to a condensed emotion fixed on a surface. It invites, but some people find it threatening. Anyway, I don't need to apologize for the way people see what I do.'

One gets a sense of mystique from Dianna's art. She is not obsessed with it, however. 'I am not thinking mystically, I just believe that we should appreciate things around us. People speak of, "chemistry of emotions", "chemistry of relationships". 'To me, this is not chemistry, this is alchemy. I mean, it's a craft and a game at the same time, something not calculated, but lived through. My main philosophy is to play with images on an intuitive level. The only magic I believe in is the craft of painting. That's why I am so keen on studying the old masters. When I mix, say, burnt sienna with stand oil, it's still a miracle for me, after all these years! And the smell is very good.'

So, why Liverpool rather than Prague or her native Riga with its cobbled streets and all? 'There are personal reasons, and more', Dianna explains. 'I am learning a lot here. Here it's such a great melting pot of cultures and, again, human feelings. Liverpool has so many faces, some ugly, some sad, some yappie. I observe and photograph people here and transpose them into my work. For of course I'm not trying to revive mediaeval art, that's silly. I try to achieve something new by the route of traditional techniques that are great. Old and new don't have to oppose each other, they become more interesting when they complement each other.'