Using only common street materials, Texas-born and New York City-based artist Alejandro Diaz suitably and seductively captures complex cultural and political relationships within his multimedia work. Diaz’s acclaimed and influential cardboard signs–which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 90s–are equal parts deadpan humor, political activism and public intervention. These caustic artworks, a clear comment on the class and racial divide found between his native South Texas and bordering Mexico, eventually led to an industrial equivalent, Mr. Diaz’s lauded neon sign series.

In 2003, shortly after graduating with an MA from the Bard CCS Program, Diaz was asked to create a large-scale artwork for the Havana Biennial titled I (Heart) Cuba; an installation of free souvenir items emblazoned with the artist’s twist on the familiar NYC slogan.  A few years later, he was commissioned by New York City’s Public Art Fund to create four large-scale sculptures along the historic grand concourse in the Bronx.

His work is included in the permanent collections of the LACMA in Los Angeles, CA, The Fundacion Jumex in Mexico City and the Museo del Barrio, in New York City, among others. In 2009, Diaz was given a solo exhibition at the critically acclaimed Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT, and in 2012, he mounted a solo exhibition at the RISD Museum of Art, in Providence, RI. He was the recipient of a distinguished Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award in 2007. He has lectured on his work at the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Drawing Center, both in New York City.

Courtesy of Art+Culture Projects