My work has evolved from formal representation and portraiture to a broader, freer, less restrained approach to painting. I experiment much more with technique and composition, allowing a collision of elements to take place. Pop and iconic imagery may hover over a trace of an old European master painting, sometimes beautifully, sometimes with uncomfortable tension.

I don't care to elaborate on the intention behind my work, or my aesthetic choices. This is not out of disrespect to my audience, but out of an understanding that the viewer brings their own interpretation to my work. My paintings suggest a possible narrative, but are not definitive statements about anything in particular. A little bit of everything is there, from social justice and politics to the simple appreciation of the color blue, or the wit of Porky Pig. The viewer takes it from there.

My process is experimental and there is little to no planning for each canvas. I have a general idea of what I want to paint, but the process determines the final piece. My attempt is to mix ideas and to create aesthetic contrasts on the same piece of canvas, and sometimes it's a fight; the layering of paint, overpainting, wrestling with ideas, editing and reworking an element until it's right. In the end I try to create work that is fun and exciting to me.

Three-person exhibition: Intimate Interrogation
Group exhibition: Swelter
Group exhibition: New Work
Group exhibition: Alejandro Diaz-Ayala, Chubirka, Martin Delabano, Bill Haveron, Mandy Lyn Perez
Solo exhibition: Just Between Us
Group exhibition: Fancy Footwork
Group exhibition: To Be Someone Must Be a Wonderful Thing

Alejandro Diaz-Ayala CV