From the collection of:
Jacobs Collection at Georgetown College || VAM Home

Rogelio Diaz has created a lively composition in the mixed-media work Pareja Danzante (“The Dancing Pair”). The two skeletal figures seem to move separately from each other in what appears to be an unusual rhythm. The vivid palette and strong, somewhat erratic brushstrokes add to the sense of motion evoked by the painting.

About the Artist

Rogelio Diaz, of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, is an intense visionary whose canvases, relief forms, ceramic sculptures, and installations appeal on both the emotional and intellectual levels. Using a constant interplay of colors and forms, Diaz produces images that vibrate in the mind’s eye. He often builds up the surface of a canvas to emphasize one or two individual features of a figure, such as eyes or lips. Greyhound dogs, saxophones, distinct noses, and nonsensical Spanish dialogues are some common elements throughout his work. Diaz approaches art as a visionary grounded in reality. The contorted images in his work provide an expressive glimpse into his kaleidoscopic world.

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Do you think this work is abstract or expressionistic? Describe the figures in this work. Are they animals or humans? Do you get a sense of motion from this work? If so, how do you think the artist achieved it?

Activities: Mexican artist Rogelio Diaz and Kentucky artist Charles Kinney are very different artists with very different backgrounds: Diaz’s work ranges from abstract to abstract expressionist, while Kinney is a well-known folk artist. Compare and contrast this work with Kinney’s Animals in the Kentucky Folk Art Center gallery. How do the two artists represent their worlds? Does one style appeal to you more than the other? Create a painting about some aspect of your world—the music you listen to, your pets, sports—in your preferred style.

Links

See work by several artists working in Puerto Vallarta, including Diaz, in the Virtual Vallarta gallery.
[www.virtualvallarta.com/vallarta/galleries/gallery-art.html]

Visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian for information and images of ancient Mexican art.
[www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/ancient/]