Artist Profile: Making Art and Missing Mom in Cuba

By Vladimir Diaz Gamez

My parents named me Vladimir Díaz Gámez on the 14th of April, 1970. I had the misfortune of losing my mother when I was just a few days old; since then she has accompanied me in spirit, and in a way, I realize her presence when I sign each of my works.

My artistic formation is purely independent; I am self-taught. I am a pure Aries: my art is battling, varied, and passionate.

I was already 20 years old when my muse visited me and I discovered the wonder of brushstrokes and the color of oils upon a canvas. From that emerged "Woman I."

The euphoria of painting has not ceased for me. Painting is like a mirror, or like a door that clears the way for me to sit down and talk with my other self.

When I work, I don't have conscious norms. I know that subconsciously there are many, but I am unable to express them precisely.

Oil is my preferred medium; its plasticity makes it possible to execute whatever occurs to me.

On some occasions I use other non-conventional materials like sand, textiles, and newspaper, and when I use them it is not with the intention of creating a conceptual feeling -- each material is worth exactly what it is and nothing more.

In galleries, art works communicate with the public: a dialog is established between each one of my paintings and the visitors.

For the past 10 years, I have worked through the nights, in the presence of my paintings, in eight personal expositions and more than 20 collective exhibitions.

With each work, I myself multiply. My mother is in my heart, my "alter ego," guiding my hand and the faith of an Aries within me.

From Havana, Cuba, my paintings have been spread all over the world; in a way, part of me accompanies them.

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