Since the mid-1980s, Diehl has utilized the still life format to make art about art. Rendered in a realist style, each painting takes as its focal point a particular artist, movement, or theme from art history. In his more recent paintings, Diehl has engaged the art historical cannon through appropriation; partial facsimiles of works by artists such as Modigliani, Rembrandt, Cezanne, Hopper, and David Park, for example, materialize as postcards or images within open texts. Books frequently appear in conjunction with these visual references, their gilt titles further elucidating the paintings’ larger thematic scope. Carefully arranged objects such as shells, fruit, boxes, and glass bottles and jars – signifiers in their own right – bestow the composition with formal unity. Anchored by this internal coherency, Diehl’s paintings confidently merge art and life through their allusions to the wider field of cultural production. SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS2007 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, CA1989 University of Pacific, Stockton, CA1988 Magic Theater, Fort Mason Art Center, San Francisco, CA1979 Shasta College, Redding, CA1976 Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA1975 San Francisco State University, CA1971 Concord Center for the Arts, Concord, CA PUBLIC COLLECTIONSAlameda County Administration Building, Oakland, CABank of America, San Francisco, CABarnes & Noble Bookstores, Inc., New York, NYCaldwell Banker, West Palm Beach, FLCity of Phoenix, Arts Commission, Phoenix, AZClark County Library, Las Vegas, NVDryer’s Grand Ice Cream, Oakland, CAFine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CAGlobal Crossing, Beverly Hill, CAHallmark Card Inc., Kansas City, MOHyatt Regency Alicante, Garden Grove, CAKaiser Permanente of CaliforniaThe Mansion at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NVOakland Museum, Oakland, CAOne & Only Ocean Club, Paradise Island, BahamasPeninsula Hotel, New York CityPrincess Cruise Lines, Santa Clarita, CAPrinceton University, Princeton , NJProgressive Insurance Co, Cleveland, OHRedding Museum, Redding , CARedwood City Library, Redwood City, CARitz-Carlton, Washington, DCRobinson’s Escondido, CASan Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CASan Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CASocial Security Administration, Baltimore, MDSouthern California Gas Co.Vasco Restaurant, Mill Valley, CAVoltaire Restaurant, Dallas, TXArt Bank Program, United States Department of State, Washington, DCThe Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, NJWalnut Creek Public Library, Walnut Creek, CAWellington Management Company, LLP Boston, MA COMMISSIONED WORKSMGM Mansion, Las Vegas, NVOne & Only Ocean Club, Paradise Island, BahamasPeninsula Hotel, New York CityPrincess Cruise LinesVasco Restaurant, Mill Valley, CAVoltaire Restaurant, Dallas, TX