Press Release: Alejandro Diaz

New Works: 96.4
11.10.96

THE INTERNATIONAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

NEW WORKS: 96.4

Paula Santiago - GUADALAJARA, MEXICO

Joyce J. Scott - BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Alejandro Diaz - SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Exhibition: December 5, 1996 - January 12, 1997

The International Artist-in-Residence Program sponsored by ArtPace, A Foundation
for Contemporary Art | San Antonio presents New Works: 96.4, a series of three
installations by artists living and working at ArtPace. Paula Santiago was selected to
participate in the International Artist-in-Residence Program by the March 1996 IAIR
Program Panel consisting of Elizabeth Armstrong, David Avalos, Dana Friis-Hansen,
Thelma Golden and Maaretta Jaukkuri. Joyce J. Scott and Alejandro Diaz were selected
by October 1994 panelists Mary Beebe, Benito Huerta, Anthony Jones, Richard
Koshalek, Lowery Sims and Dianne Vanderlip.

Alejandro Diaz

Born in 1963, Alejandro Diaz received his BFA from The University of Texas at Austin,
and lives and works in San Antonio. Solo exhibitions of his work have appeared at
Southwest Texas State University, Davis/McClain Gallery in Houston, Bemis Center for
Contemporary Art and in San Antonio at Milagros Contemporary Art and the Southwest
Craft Center. His work has been included in major group shows in San Antonio and
Houston. New Works: 96.4 includes photographs, paintings, and objects
produced and arranged by Diaz during his residency period. Setting a 1960s mood for
Diaz's installation are his photographs of a male model with nude, powdered body, white
nylon stockings and white wig, assuming the submissive poses of the female figures in
British sculptor Allen Jones's table pieces. Using ready-made materials such as
fluorescent light fixtures and carpets, Diaz evokes the Minimalist works of Dan Flavin
and Carl Andre with a decidedly banal twist. The exhibition also includes video and a
giant shower curtain-like length of vinyl, titled Seven Boys for Seven Bachelors,
even, which conceptually collapses Duchamp's The Large Glass into the hit
movie musical, 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,' with sexual metaphors in tact.
Elegantly reductive, Diaz's works offer a sharp contrast to the more process-oriented,
poetic creations of Santiago and Scott.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org