Alexis Diaz
"Alexis Diaz." Alexis Diaz. Cargo Collective, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
As I was researching my street artist, Alexis Diaz, I
could hardly find anything on him. To be honest at first I thought he was a
girl, but as I read a couple of articles that have featured his work, gender
was revealed. From what I could find on the internet is that he was born and
raised in Puerto Rico and enjoys teaming up with a great friend of his, Juan
Fernandez. When both artist work on a piece they are referred to as “La
Pandilla” or the “gang”. Throughout the articles that I found, it touches on
the style in which Diaz is most known for, metamorphosis. He focuses on animals
and morphing them into the most foreign objects that he can incorporate them. He
also likes to work on bright canvases and construct his art with black brush
strokes so that depth is achieved throughout the artwork to his viewers. I was
successful enough to find his personal website, but all that was on the website
was pictures of his work and the locations of them.
"Toulouse, Francia - Alexis Diaz." Toulouse, Francia - Alexis Diaz. N.p., May 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
"La Vegas, NV - Alexis Diaz." La Vegas, NV - Alexis Diaz. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
The internet presents and preserves street art in various
ways. Before I even thought about looking for biographical information about
Alexis Diaz I wanted to answer this first question. I immediately googled the
artist’s name, low and behold images began to appear on the search engine. The next
thing that appeared was his actual website, followed by articles that were
written about appearances and artwork displays. I feel that the internet does a
fantastic job in preserving street art. The obvious first thing that I realized
is that it had all of his artwork ever done, not referring to his personal website,
but Google in general. Then I moved onto his website and he has saved all his
pieces in categories pertaining to the pieces’ location. Now presenting it I find
a little different because street art in general can happen to be presented in
both positive and negative ways according to the perspectives of others. So looking
at the artist’s website his work was presented as a positive way because that
his own masterpieces. Well I chose Alexis Diaz on the list that was given to us
in class. I looked at the list initially and no names popped out to me until I took
a second glance at it. I was shocked to see that a Puerto Rican street artist
was that famous internationally, once we were told that everyone on the list
had a major impact on street art, thus taking a risk. After I googled him and
saw the link to his personal website, that’s when I started to choose photos of
artwork based on the multiple locations that he chose to display them. I
wanted to incorporate the places he has worked not only the artwork because I feel
that there was a purpose to why he chose that specific location to release his
passion. I selected my street art on what I found “cool”. Yes I know that it
sounds vague but that’s the honest reason. I do not know anything relevant to
street art, but I know that my taste is very different. Some of his work is
ugly and I am not going to lie so whatever I thought looked nice was the basis
for displaying to you. And know we move on the hard part, defining street art.
Street art in my own words would have to be artwork that was chosen freely by
artists, whether they are pros or amateurs, and constructed on elements that
are not typically considered a “proper canvas”. Others refer to street art as
graffiti, and before the first day of class I would have agreed with that statement.
"Londres, Inglaterra - Alexis Diaz." Londres, Inglaterra - Alexis Diaz. N.p., July 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
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My journey to Wynwood
Walls was very influential and fun! I will admit at first I thought to myself
why on earth did I choose a course that requires me to drive all the way to Miami
to take pictures? I regret saying that because little did I know how much fun
was in store for me. When I first arrived to Wynwood Walls the GPS just stopped
in the middle of the nowhere so I was left to drive up and down until I saw the
entrance. I thought I was looking for a museum or something. But then the
entrance looked like a park with the fake turf alongside the entrance. It was
hard to choose three pictures, so I chose the ones that would best represent my
trip. The first one that I fell in love with would have to be the mother
raising her young. I found that mural after walking past the restaurant and
looking to my left. The significance of it would have to be a mother’s bond
with her child. Everyone has experienced that unbreakable bond with their
mother at that stage in life. Your mother is your only provider for you and
drinking her breast milk is the only source of nutrition before the creation of
infant milk powder. 
Whenever we are assigned
to use the internet to research any topic my source, like many others, is
always Google. The things that appear when you search is just too funny. So I did
the same procedure for this part of the blog. I googled “Political Street Art”
and the first picture to catch my eye is the one I am writing about. I found
that this picture is very satirical yet political. In the United States,
multiple companies seem to influence the market in discrete and obvious ways. When
it comes to cold beverages, Coca-Cola seems to always manage to be victorious. This
image of a pill capsule with the coca cola logo spray painted onto it shows the
political aspect of the hazardous product. I don’t know about others but my
interpretation of the image is that Coke products are the newest addiction,
just like meth and heroin was during the 1980’s but this addiction is far more
neglected than others. I think it’s because the company makes their product
seem delightful and more tasteful than what they are adding to each can of coke
with all the fancy labels and commercials for it. Whoever the artist is, they
have done a great job in catching the satirical aspect of the company. 
