Alejandro Diaz
Artist Biography
Based in New York City, Alejandro Diaz is originally from Texas where he developed an exciting and pertinent body of work exemplifying the complex and visually rich cultural milieu particular to South Texas and Mexico.
Diaz’s conceptual, campy and political cardboard signs - which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 90s - are emblematic of his recurrent use of everyday materials, his humor infused politics, and his ongoing involvement with art as a form of entertainment, activism, public intervention, and free enterprise. The ongoing cardboard signs series continues to evolve with some of the sayings now being produced in neon.
In 2003, Diaz created a major installation for the Havana Biennial, I ♥Cuba, an installation of free souvenir items emblazoned with the artist’s twist on the familiar New York slogan. He was commissioned by the Public Art Fund, New York’s premier presenter of public art, to create 4 large-scale sculptures for the grand concourse in the Bronx (2006). In 2007 Diaz was the recipient of the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and was selected to participate in a major group exhibition at LACMA, Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement which then travelled to Mexico City, Houston, and New York. In 2009 Diaz presented a solo project at the critically acclaimed Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT. Diaz has had a solo exhibition at Jessica Murray Projects, NY (2001) and has lectured on his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Drawing Center, NY.
His work is included in the permanent collections at the RISD Museum, LACMA, Fundacion Jumex, Museo del Barrio, NY and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Scottsdale, AZ. He has been reviewed in publications such as the New Yorker, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, WWD, Architectural Digest (Mexico), Dwell, Flash Art, and Frieze.
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