December 2 – 31, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, December 2nd; 8-11 PM
Daniel Martin Diaz “Quantum Mysticism”
In “Quantum Mysticism,” Daniel Martin Diaz unravels the mysteries that lie beneath unconscious thought processes that bring us closer to the secrets of symbols and their everlasting effect on our psyche. Inter-dimensional entities, sacred machines, time travel, sacred geometry, The Illuminati, alchemy, and the mysteries of higher consciousness are a wellspring of inspiration for this solo exhibition.
“…our inner psychic reality serves to manifest a living mystery that can be expressed only by a symbol…” –Carl Jung
The artwork of self-taught artist Daniel Martin Diaz has been commissioned for the PBS Documentary, The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s, the CD artwork for the Atlantic Records multi-platinum band, P.O.D., which sold over one million copies, two large altar pieces for San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church in Guaymas, Mexico, the Historic Hotel Congress Proscenium stage, and the book design and layout for Daniel’s art books, Triginta Uno Dies, Thirty-One Drawings In Thirty-One Days and Mysterium Fidei, published by La Luz de Jesus Press and Last Gasp. He is currently working on three prominent public art projects for the City of Phoenix, including projects for the innovative Arizona Light Rail as well as, the Plaza Centro Project in Downtown Tucson. Most recently, he has been commissioned to create the album cover artwork for the multi-platinum band Good Charlotte. Diaz and his wife and co-founder of their band Blind Divine are owners and curators of their museum and curiosity shop, Sacred Machine in Tucson, Arizona.
“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 wayinto 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 evokes 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.” –Daniel Martin Diaz
Robert Xavier Burden “Toy Box”
Robert Xavier Burden’s “Toy Box” features epic portraits of the small action figures that he played with as a boy. The patterns that adorn many of his canvases are taken from fabric, carpet or wall-paper patterns from his childhood home. His original toy is often framed in a shadowbox attached to the painting, acting as a modern reliquary for these figurines. Burden enjoys the irony of spending hundreds and hundreds of hours in order to make a single painting that glorifies an object that was cheaply, mass-produced for millions of kids.
“I remember these figures as being magnificent. They represented power, beauty, good and evil, and they captured every aspect of my imagination. As a young adult, these toys are wonderfully nostalgic, but they’re no longer amazing to me. The ineffability of what can turn a cheap yet coveted piece of plastic into an almost talismanic object was the original inspiration for this work. I am also motivated by the amorphous line that is drawn between imagination and reality, childhood wonder and adult practicality. Though sheltered and naive, there was a freedom in my childhood. It was free from the politics of race and religion. It was free from the burdens of history. It was free from rhetoric and paranoia, shame and regret, cynicism and despair. There is nothing profound about commenting on the minor tragedy of losing one’s innocence, or the struggle to maintain one’s idealism. I just want to renew my faded sense of awe.” – Robert Xavier Burden
Robert received his MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 and his BFA from Queen’s University in 2005. He was the recipient of the Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship Award in 2006 and the Irene Pijoan Memorial Painting Award in 2007. He has exhibited in venues throughout North America including White Walls Gallery in San Francisco and Roq la Rue Gallery in Seattle. Burden currently lives and works in San Francisco.
Contact Gallery Director Matthew Gardocki for purchase info:
info@laluzdejesus.com (323)666-7667