POST 9 - ARTIST STATEMENT AND BIO - DEE DIAZ

Artist Statement:

In Dee’s work they aim to tell visual stories that captivate the viewer with color, form, texture, and various literary techniques. Collages combine photographs and scans into one unique, surreal image. A photograph can be enough on its own, however, through collage they are given more meaning with outside elements amplifying the photo. Through this visual scrapbook-like technique a diary is created that retells moments in their life with visual details. Images may feel familiar but have an oddness to them that utilizes the day to day overlooked objects that are often unintentionally missed or not noticed. This includes signs, lamp posts, leaves, dirt, and various other seemingly mundane parts of life. Through layering Dee create a visual texture and grit; especially with varying opacity, Dee plays with what the viewer has access to. Poems are sometimes on various images in order to add further depth and symbolism. Through landscapes, portraiture, and abstracts, a new world is created and heightened with the use of literature. Each piece invites viewers through a walk in Dee’s eyes to see the world in a light that they are not yet familiar with. The use of printing processes such as cyanotype adds a further depth created through the simplification of colors to dark and light forms. Gesture is heavily important seen through physical handwriting, brushwork, and drawing. Emphasizing the mundane and overlooked parts of the world around is symbolic of Dee’s journey into diving deep into all of the little parts of themself that might also go unnoticed. The works as they are can stand on their own, but through assemblage parts make an even greater whole.

Artist Bio:

Dee Diaz is a queer, mixed race person who has used several forms of art as an outlet for their struggles. Coming from multiple minority backgrounds such as being queer, mentally ill, and Dominican/Black/White, they have used art as a way to express and embrace their differences. Growing up Dee was often bullied and struggled to make connections with people, and found comfort in imaginative play. Often teachers would describe them as being easily distracted, but Dee often excelled in school despite their overactive imagination. Their third grade teacher was the first person to see their artistic potential and gave them encouragement, and they soon fell in love with reading and writing. This is what began Dee’s endeavors into the world of creative writing and poetry which eventually led its way into their art. Dee has done three solo exhibitions the first two were ran by Marla Indhira and other members of Gothic Knight Productions at New Jersey City University and the third also was on display at New Jersey City University and was being ran by Agustina Nicole Cueto with the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies. And also one two-person exhibition ran by Marla Indhira and Sage that was held at The Living Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.