ArtCommotion 
(An online art magazine, now defunct)
from the News/Framed section by Madame G (Shana Nys Dambrot)
September 16 through September 22, 1996

Diana Hobstetter "A People Palette" at Bean Queen, a new coffee house behind the Bank of America on Windward Circle, Venice Beach. The exhibition space for this ambitious portrait project is informal, to say the least, but it's a homey center of community activity so it is the perfect host for portraits of members of the local (not just arts) community. Each painting is a perfect square, depicting the sitter's head and shoulders, and a small object of the sitter's choice. In the end, there will be exactly 100 portraits. The project inspires chorus of recognition, questions and anecdotes. Viewed from a distance, the individuals blur and form a kaleidoscopic texture: The pattern of the neighborhood, which has turned Hobstetter into a local celebrity.