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April
2004
LA LUZ DE JESUS PRESS RELEASE
TRIGINTA UNO DIES
Thirty-one Drawings in Thirty-one Days
Introduction by Gloria Fraser Giffords
Published by La Luz de Jesus Press
This beautifully haunting eighty page hardcover
book features thirty-one disturbing, yet sublime graphite drawings created
in thirty-one days by self-taught artist Daniel Martin Diaz. A grueling,
yet exhilarating journey into the subconscious, this intimate reflection
depicts the struggles between faith, death, and the after-life.
"Where Diaz has dissected-even decapitated-his
figures, he has done so not to shock or scandalize us, but to jar us
out of the mundane, formulaic, physical realm, to free us to respond
to the higher, and deeper, spiritual meaning of religious symbols and
images whose familiar forms have all too often served to distance us
from their power.”
Diaz takes us around dark corners, to places
most are afraid to go. Through his art, we are invited into a realm
of uncertainty that he attempts to clarify for us. Not that he expects
universal truths to be revealed, but because he believes that the process
by which we contemplate matters is invaluable.
“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 evoke 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.”
In the few years Diaz has been painting,
his enthusiasm and dedication to the arts have propelled him into top-notch
status and has attracted commissions from such notable clients as Warner
Bros., Atlantic Records and P.B.S. His exhibitions include highly acclaimed
shows in his hometown of Tucson, Arizona, with Joel Peter Witkin, the
Tucson Museum of Art, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, forty solo and group
exhibitions in 15 states, and 8 countries, including two international
touring exhibitions. Throughout his career, his art has appeared in
numerous local, national, and international publications. He has been
commissioned to create a drawing for the P.B.S. documentary, The Forgetting:
A Portrait of Alzheimer’s hosted by David Hyde Pierce, which aired
nationally on January 2004.
His controversial art graces the latest
album, Payable on Death, by the multi-platinum band on Atlantic Records,
P.O.D. “85 percent of Christian bookstores across the country have
refused to carry the band's latest record, Payable on Death, because
of its artwork, which depicts a naked woman with butterfly wings, her
arms crossed over her breasts and a banner with the word "Sanctus"
(a Latin word for the sung part of the preface in Mass) across her nether
region.”- MTV NEWS.
When asked about his feelings on the matter,
Diaz said "It's quite ironic that throughout my art career I have
been censored by a reputable art publication and denied inclusion into
art exhibitions because my work is too religious" artist Daniel
Martin Diaz tells Australia's Undercover News. "Now my work is
being censored by religious outlets, I find it amusing".
He was commissioned to create two 8’x4’
altar pieces for San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church, built for the
impoverished people of Guaymas, Mexico by world renowned chef and philanthropist,
Susana Davila.
Purchase book at:
www.laluzdejesus.com
www.lastgasp.com
www.danielmartindiaz.com
ISBN: 0-86719-617-3
SCB Distributors Inc
800 729 6423
scb@scbdistributors.com
Last Gasp
800 366 5121
gasp@lastgasp.com
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