Daniel Martin Diaz








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. "One of the most striking qualities of Diaz's works is that they convey a sense of integrity. Most contemporary American art tends to be about 90 percent about the artist and their creativity and maybe 10 percent about their culture. When you look at Daniel Martin Diaz's paintings, you are reminded of a period in which art was more like 90 percent about the culture and maybe 10 percent about the artist and their creativity." - Martin Kim, Arizona State Museum
	DMD Studio

I continue to be amazed and inspired by many artists both past and present, who have been successful in capturing the complexities of the human spirit. We run from those things that we cannot explain. These are the things that we must attempt to explain through art. All the beauty and tragedy that is life. The world between imagination and completion is an infinite one. It is a solitary journey, yet the many paths are full of wanderers who are also searching and eager to share their findings. I am most influenced by the great amount of human suffering that has occurred throughout history and one’s undying faith in the after life. Often times I am subconsciously influenced by world attitudes or stories and also by the people I am closest to. I prefer to keep an open mind and let the subject matter take on a life of its own. Client List: PBS, Warner Bros/Atlantic Records, Rolling Stone Magazine, Spin Magazine, MTV-2, Juxtapoz Magazine, Low Rider Magazine, Graphic Design USA, Garage Magazine, Shade Magazine, 3x3 Magazine, HM The Hard Music Magazine, Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art Book Vol. and II, Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, New American Paintings, Equilibrium Magazine, Alter Ego, Versus Magazine, New American Paintings. Permanent Collections and Archives: Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Laguna Art Museum / Orange County Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art, Shemer Art Center and Museum, New Mexico State University, San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church Sonora, Mexico, US Santa Barbara Library-Caridad Archive of Chicano Printmaking in California, Huntington Museum, The Gerald Buck Collections Self-Help Graphic's Traveling Exhibition Print Program, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Cirque du Soleil Collection
Public Art and Commissions: Phoenix/Cave Creek Police Precinct Terrazzo Project, 2010 Phoenix Light Rail Project TPSS, 2012 Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Terrazzo Project, 2013 Tucson Pima Arts Council Luminarias Del Pueblo (2 metal sculptures) Tucson Pima Arts Council Ponies Del Pueblo Historic Hotel Congress Proscenium Stage Atlantic Records Multi-Platinum Band POD Album Artwork, Layout, and Direction Six String Masterpieces: A Dimebag Darrell Art Tribute Hand-Painted Guitar for Charity San Antonio De Padua Catholic Church Altarpieces Personal Publications: Triginta Uno Dies, Thirty-One Drawings In Thirty-One Days, Last Gasp Publishing Mysterium Fidei, Last Gasp Publishing Anatomy of Sorrow, Lasp Gasp Publishing Book Covers and Features: Arizona Journal Of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Volume 2, 1998, University Of Arizona Press Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art Book Vol. and II, Bilingual Press Triumph of Our Communities: Four Decades of Mexican American Art, Bilingual Press Chicano Art for Our Millennium, Bilingual Press Critical Mappings Of Arturo Islas's Fictions, Frederick Luis Aldama, Bilingual Press The Captain of All These Men Of Death, Alejandro Morales, Bilingual Press Metamorphosis Volume 1, 50 Surreal & Fantastic Artists, Beinart Publishing EXHIBITIONS: 2012 Art Paris Art Fair, Represented by Galarie Toxic, Paris, France Officine Dell Immagine, Selva Obscura, Milano, Italy, February Pima Air & Space Museum, Group Show, January 2011 La Luz de Jesus, Solo Show and Book Release, Los Angeles, November Gallery Toxic, Luxembourg, September La Halle St Pierre, Paris, France, September Pop Gallery, Santa Fe, July 2010 Yves Laroche Gallery, Montreal, Canada, June Mondo Bizarro Gallery, Rome, Italy, November 2009 Perihelion Arts, Phoenix, AZ, March 2008 Billy Shire Fine Arts, Solo Exhibition, Culver City, CA, December Arizona State Museum, Solo Exhibition, Tucson, AZ, September Last Rites Gallery, Group Exhibition, New York, NY, April DvA Gallery, Group Exhibition, Chicago, IL, April Stolen Space Gallery, Touring Group Exhibition, London, England, April Perihelion Arts, Phoenix, AZ, March Mondo Bizzarro, Group Show, Rome, Italy, March 2007 Mesa Contemporary Art Museum, Solo Exhibition, Mesa, AZ Hemphill Fine Arts, Group Exhibition, Washington D.C. Henry Boxer Gallery, Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY Fuse Gallery, Group Exhibition, New York, NY (Touring England and Japan) Lautre Galerie, Sweet Calaveras, Montreal, QC 2006 Billy Shire Fine Arts, Solo Exhibition, Culver City, CA Capro Nason and Pressure Printing, Group Exhibition, Santa Monica, CA The Judson Studios, Group Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA Henry Boxer Gallery, Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY 2005 Jonathan LeVine Gallery, Solo Exhibition, New York, NY La Luz De Jesus Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Hollywood, CA Mesa Contemporary Arts Center, Works From The Permanent Collection, Mesa, AZ Tin Man Alley, Group Show, Philadelphia, PA M Modern Gallery, Group Show, Palm Springs, CA Self-Help Graphics Gallery, Group Show, Los Angeles, CA
		“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.” -Raw Vision Magazine

		“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.” -Gloria Fraser Giffords, Art Historian