METAL ON WOOD
SIMULTANEOUS SEQUENCES 1972
As part of Simultaneous Sequences (1972), an event that brought together 400 people across three galleries in a single night, Luis Díaz presented two works in his metal on wood technique: El Quetzal en Persona en Vuelo, a five-panel composition of geometric forms that creates a visual sequence of movement, rhythm, and flight; and Rombos, produced as a single panel, diptych, and triptych, whose composition and vibrant color evoke the rich visual tradition of Guatemalan Indigenous textiles.
INSIDE-OUTSIDE 1973
Ten robotic-featured human figures walk along the gallery walls narrating life under repressive regimes, from Inside-Outside (1973); the floor was covered in dried oak leaves so their crunch evoked the sensation of walking alongside the figures. The work was censored at the Sao Paulo Biennial for its political content.
ATITLAN 1979
A posthumous tribute to political leader Manuel Colom Argueta, assassinated by the ruling forces of the time, Atitlan (1979) brings together eight triptychs spanning 30 linear meters in burnished aluminum, designed to envelop the viewer in the sensation of standing in the middle of the waterless lake. It was shown at the 15th Sao Paulo Biennial.
100 PIECES OF DEBRIS 1981
After a car bomb destroyed the façade of a building he was supervising, Luis Díaz created a series of 100 burnished recycled-aluminum works mounted on wood in varying sizes. Shaped like stones and installed at an angle, the pieces formed a horizon of debris inspired by tetuntes (stones). From this series, he established the Order of the Tetunte, awarding 60 close friends with a single piece.
STILL LIFE 1981
Still Life brings together a collection of works created using the metal on wood technique developed by Luis Díaz. The exhibition presents compositions of tables on which tetuntes and other everyday objects rest. Although the tables are depicted in plan view, they are displayed on a wall perpendicular to the viewer, disrupting spatial perception and creating a deliberate sense of visual disorientation.
PARISIAN FAUNA 1983
Characters observed by Luis Diaz on the Paris metro, framed within a train-car window as if part of an assembly line -the first time the artist broke his 15-year habit of working only in gray or black metal, incorporating full color.
SHOWCASE 1984
The Escaparate Triptych brings together the works Penca de Banano, Café, and Dulce, created using the metal on wood technique developed by Luis Díaz. The figures, made of burnished recycled metal, cast shadows rendered in red bole putty, a device that enhances the perception of depth and volume. It was presented as part of the Retablo de Retablos exhibit in 1984.
THE FENCE 1984
El Cerco (The Fence), a pentyptych symbolizing the barbs of the Central American siege, part of the Retablo de Retablos retrospective (1984), a posthumous tribute to Marta Traba.
RETABLO DE RETABLOS 1984
Retablo de Retablos, a posthumous tribute to critic Marta Traba, is a twenty-year retrospective spanning from the 1971 Guatebalas metal reliefs to the 1979 mountainous perimeter of Atitlan.
OTHER WORK 1970-1984
The metal on wood pieces created by Luis Díaz between 1970 and 1984 comprise individual works such as Blanco Móvil, El Mundo es Redondo como una Naranja, La Mesa, Aguacate, Semilla, Bolívar, the Tríptico Copán, and El Quetzal en Persona en Vuelo. These works are made of burnished recycled metal mounted on wood.
