NEW PAINTINGS

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To purchase contact Paula C Valencia pdiaz3@cox.net
 
Elegy
Eternity
Arbor Mors
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Anima Mundi
Aeternum Supplicium
Insectum

REVIEWS

"Passion, suffering inhabit Daniel Martin Diaz's works"

"Diaz finds life in death"

'Anatomy of Sorrow' hits UA campus'

"Comunica ideales con su arte"


Arizona State Museum Press Release
VIDEO

Anatomy of Sorrow
interview featuring DMD, Arizona State Museum Curator Martin Kim, Professor of Ethnohistory Michael Brescia

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Arizona State Museum
 
 
Eve Serpent
Memento
Capulus
Aura
Alchemy Tree
Ventus
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Mors et Musica
Sacratus
Mors et Vita
Lux Aeterna
Blatta Regina
Divine Messenger

Beastie ex Altum (Beast from the deep)
Seraphim
Golgotha



Daniel Martin Diaz
New Limited Edition Series of Etchings
Printed by Master Printer David Manje.
Printed on
15" x 22" Magnani Italian Paper
100% Cotton, pH Neutral, Acid Free


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Apocalypse, 2008
Signed & Unframed Etching / Edition of 13
100% Cotton Magnani
Italian Paper
15" x 22" Paper Size / Image Size 8 5/8" x 10 1/4"
$400.00
.
O.M.C.E., 2008
Signed & Unframed Etching / Edition of 13
100% Cotton Magnani
Italian Paper
15" x 22" Paper Size / Image Size 8 5/8" x 10 1/4"
$400.00
.

Press Release

Anatomy of Sorrow

Paintings by Daniel Martin Diaz

Like most viewers I turn to look, again, at each of Daniel Martin Diaz's archaic yet riveting images. A second look at one painting, “Arbor Mors” peels back a layer of what its title implies. It seems to be an upheaval of the traditional tree of life. This is, instead, a tree of death. Yet, though we may be quietly horrified by this unexpected twist of something known into something frighteningly unknown, we can't help but turn to look again. His craft as a painter is a compelling tool, as each fresh layer unfolds. This is the power of good art-that it draws us towards the artist's vision, and causes us to willingly abandon our own worldviews, for a brief moment, to enter theirs.

Diaz's work does not require a literary reading of titles to engage the viewer in a rich dialogue. His work operates on an ecstatic visual level. All-seeing eyes, embedded in the trunk, deviate from what might be an otherwise traditional icon of proto-typical European folk imagery. They lend a mystical aura with their Latin and Christian captions painted below one another. There are three eyes, a magic number in most mystic traditions. They are in visual dialogue with a skull, poised on a stick embedded in the exposed artery-like roots of the tree, one of a trinity (again) that lies mute upon the ground at the foot of the tree. Is the tree a stand-in for a cruciform? Other mystic symbols anchor foreground corners of the painting, drawn from the Kabbalah-or is it Masonic? As viewers, we don't know. We can only take in this set of images so deftly painted against the glowing wash of sepia sky, itself hosting a universe of medieval stars, and trust that there is a vital question-or observation-posed here for our consideration.

It is to Diaz's credit that he so successfully engages us in this rhetorical dialogue. The exhibit “Anatomy of Sorrow” continues to repay a viewer's trust. It has been said that all great art must first disorient, then reorient. By this measure, Daniel Martin Diaz executes great art.

............................................................................................................................-Martin Kim
.............................................................................................................................Curator, Arizona State Museum



Drawing from old masters Jan van Eyck, Pieter Bruegel, and Hieronymus Bosch, both in subject matter and in the ancient egg tempera and resin oil painting technique, the works of self-taught artist and classically trained composer Daniel Martin Díaz possess a sincerity that foregrounds his deep devotion to revealing a higher meaning through painstaking craftsmanship. Through his application of a limited palette on distressed wood, his handmade wooden frames, and his expressive use of Latin text, Díaz's images thrust us into another time and place. The art of Daniel Martin Díaz has been exhibited in over 50 solo and group exhibitions in 17 states and eight countries, including three international touring exhibitions, and has been acquired for the permanent collections of nine art museums nationwide. His passionate creations have been commissioned for the PBS documentary The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's, the CD artwork for Atlantic Records multi-platinum band P.O.D., and two large altarpieces for San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church in Guaymas, Mexico. In addition to Diaz' extensive art client list, his music, Blind Divine has been licensed for film and television productions from MTV to the History Channel and recently has been included in the Lakeshore Records release of Clive Barker's feature film, "The Midnight Meat Train," Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.