NATURES ANXIETIES
Commentary written by Perry Woodin

When you look at Natures Anxieties, you can’t help but feel that uniquely human despair that arises from the paradox of existing as a spiritual being tied to a physical body.

Natures Anxieties is referring not so much to our natural surroundings, but rather to the Nature or Essence of human being. Søren Kierkegaard wrote about the struggle and despair that man must endure solely because of his nature in “Sickness Unto Death.” Daniel Martin Diaz expresses this despair through the powerful imagery in Natures Anxieties.

Natures Anxieties - Oil on Wood

Even the custom frame drives home the juxtaposition of the physical and spiritual. The frame takes the form so popular in Greek architecture with the base establishing a solid foundation to the physical environment, and the apex pointing to the spiritual heavens. The painting uses the structure of the frame to express the physical and spiritual ties that are at the heart of human nature.

The agony evident in the face as it looks heavenward elicits sympathy for a soul that longs for a release from the body because of the intense pain that can be caused by living in a physical world.

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