Artist profile
Dilara
Niriella
Dilara loves creating paintings that capture the essence of nostalgia and memories. Although she often explores sentimental themes, she also enjoys incorporating a layer of humor into her works. This is usually achieved through the naming process, where she gives her pieces cheeky titles to lighten the tone and spark conversation.
One of her favourite aspects of the artistic process is witnessing people connect with her work—whether it’s pointing, laughing with friends, or sharing their personal connection to a piece with her. Dilara aims to produce art that is approachable, identifiable, and, most importantly, accessible.
Dilara holds a BFA (Honours) from UNSW. She has participated in the competition circuit, winning The Young Archies in 2016 and the Mosman Youth Art Prize in 2018, and has been a finalist in many other competitions. Dilara has exhibited in Sydney, Los Angeles, and New York City.
Career Highlights
- Showing and selling my work in internationally in NY and LA has been such an awesome experience.
- Being able to go full time. I've been full time for 1.5 years now!
- Winning the Young Archies! It's where my art career began.
Artist Interview
What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?
I work with oil paint! I love the creamy texture of the paint and the texture i can get with it. I also find oils easier to mix and remix accurate colours with.
I started out learning how to paint with acrylic and switched to oils about 7 years ago! I have also dabbled in gouache, colour pencils, oil pastels but oil paint remains my favourite!
How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?
As cheesy as it sounds i'm always looking out for inspiration. My work deals with nostalgia and shared experiences. I use life as subject material so my camera roll is filled with images of food/objects/scenes that could end up being a painting! I choose an idea, find images in my camera roll or take new pictures, draw and paint! I like working on one image at a time, painting non-stop until its finished because i get too excited to stop.
Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?
Whenever I’m in the studio there’s either music blasting, a podcast playing or a tv show on in the background. There’s also a likely possibility that there will be half-empty mugs of tea all over the place… ☺ I always hang up finished paintings in the studio to keep me company!
