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Alejandro
Diaz
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Bio

(b. 1963, San Antonio, Texas)

Based in New York City since 1996, Alejandro Diaz is originally from San Antonio, 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 1990s—are emblematic of his humour-infused politics and his involvement with art as a form of entertainment, activism, and public intervention.  His ongoing series of cardboard signs continues to evolve, with some sayings now produced in neon.

In 2007, Diaz was the recipient of the prestigious Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award, and in the following year he was selected to participate in the renowned group exhibition Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Most recently Diaz was included in a major travelling exhibition called ¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now, which opened in 2021 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

Photo courtesy of the artist | Fotografía cortesía del artista

Works in the exhibition | Obras en la exposición

2007
Alejandro Diaz
Neon on clear plexiglass | ​​Neón sobre plexiglás transparente
221.5 x 18 x 7.5 cm (7 x 83 x 3.5 in)
Collection of the artist | Colección del artista
Photo courtesy of the artist | Imagen cortesía del artista

Selected Works | Otras obras destacadas

2003
Alejandro Díaz
Performance / intervention in which hand-painted cardboard signs were sold and distributed to passersby in Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue shopping district | Performance / intervención en la que letreros de cartón pintados a mano fueron vendidos y distribuidos a transeúntes del distrito comercial de la Quinta Avenida en Manhattan
Collection of the artist | Colección del artista
Photo courtesy of the artist | Imagen cortesía del artista
2003
Alejandro Díaz
Permanent marker on cardboard | ​​Marcador permanente sobre cartón
22.8 x 35.5 cm (9 x 14 in)
Collection of the artist | Colección del artista
Photo courtesy of the artist | Imagen cortesía del artista
2009
Alejandro Díaz
Neon on clear plexiglass | ​​Neón sobre plexiglás transparente
43.2 x 91.4 x 7.6 cm (17 x 36 x 3 in)
Collection of the artist | Colección del artista
Photo courtesy of the artist | Imagen cortesía del artista
2020
Alejandro Díaz
Acrylic on canvas | Acrílico sobre tela
101.6c x 101.6 cm (40 x 40 in)
Collection of the artist | Colección del artista
Photo courtesy of the artist | Imagen cortesía del artista

TASTE, READ, WATCH + LISTEN | SABOREA, LEE, MIRA + ESCUCHA

We asked the artist to share their favourite things | Le pedimos a cada artista que comparta sus cosas favoritas.

THERE'S MORE ABOUT Alejandro! |
THERE'S MORE ABOUT Alejandro!
| ¡HAY MÁS DE Alejandro!
¡HAY MÁS DE Alejandro!