- Daniel Martin Diaz
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Daniel Martin Diaz 
Diaz signing artworkBorn February 12, 1967
Tucson, ArizonaField Painter, Composer Movement Apocalyptic, Visionary, Outsider, Pop Surrealism Daniel Martin Diaz (born February 12, 1967) is a Mexican American artist whose work has gained him international renown. His style is a combination of Northern European Art, Spanish Colonial Art, Surrealism, and Post-Modernism.
While he primarily works with oils on wood, he works in a wide variety of other mediums, etchings, block printing, and stone lithography.
The Seven Sorrows
In addition to his solo exhibitions, his work has been featured in magazines,[1] TV documentaries,[2] as well as book covers and his own book, Mysterium Fidei.[3]
The multi-platinum band P.O.D. commissioned Diaz to design and paint the cover of their self titled album Payable on Death. The album went gold in four weeks and caused a controversy across the country due to the cover artwork Diaz created.[4] In 2010, he designed and painted the cover of Good Charlotte's album, Cardiology.
Influences
Diaz's influences include an eclectic mix from fantastical Mexican Retablos, mystical votive offerings, the Flemish Primitives, Gothic ornamentation, arcane religious sigils and medallions, alchemy, as well as symbolism culled from assorted secret societies such as The Rosicrucians.[5]
Symbolism
Symbolism plays a central role in Diaz’s art. It harks back to an earlier Christian culture where a mostly illiterate populace could read the paths leading to the world of the Spirit in the figures, colors, symbols, and gestures of the sculptures, paintings, and mosaics that adorned the portals, walls, and altar screens of the churches. Like his predecessors, he provides an artistic shorthand—one uniquely his—to bring his viewers to an inner, higher world.[6]
Artist statement
"One of my earliest memories as a child was the way death and religion played an important role in my family’s life. My parents were born in Mexico with traditional beliefs, and their beliefs made their way into my subconscious. The fact that many of those beliefs seemed to render no logical explanation has also influenced me. These unanswered questions find a home in my work, which evokes the mystery, fear and irony of those vivid memories of my past. I do not claim to understand these questions. I just paint and let them reveal themselves to me." - Daniel Martin Diaz[7]
Music
Diaz is a primary member of the band Blind Divine, with singer Paula Catherine Valencia.
References
- ^ "Juxtapoz Magazine, May/June 2003 Issue#44". http://www.juxtapoz.com/.
- ^ "P.B.S. documentary on Alzheimer's Disease, “The Forgetting”". Public Broadcasting Service. January 2004. http://www.pbs.org/theforgetting/about/index.html.
- ^ "Last Gasp". http://www.lastgasp.com/d/31415/.
- ^ P.O.D.'s 'Payable on Death' Goes Gold; Banned by Retailers
- ^ Raw Vision #68, Winter 2009/10
- ^ Mysterium Fidei - "A Retrospective Catalog Highlighting Diaz's Career", ISBN 9780867196887
- ^ Diaz, Daniel Martin. "Triginta Uno Dies", ISBN 9780867196177
External links
- http://www.danielmartindiaz.com/ - Official website
- http://www.blinddivine.com/ - Blind Divine
- http://beinart.org/artists/daniel-martin-diaz/ - Daniel Martin Diaz - Surreal Art Collective
Categories:- American artists
- American painters
- Artists from Arizona
- People from Tucson, Arizona
- 1967 births
- Living people
- Fantastic art
- American artists of Mexican descent
- American people of Mexican descent
- Lowbrow pop surrealism artists
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