SCULPTURE
UNIQUE SCULTURE PIECES 1956 - 2000
At the age of 14, Luis Díaz obtains his first job at the Caminos workshops, in the machine shop department, where he gains knowledge of tools and techniques for working with metals and other materials. During this period, he experiments with leftover materials, creating his first sculptures and exploring processes such as casting, metalwork, welding, and carpentry. These early experiences would become the foundation for the personal techniques he later developed in his artistic practice.
10 ABSTRACT VARIATIONS SCULPTURES 1969
The 10 sculptures from Variaciones Abstractas (1969), composed of two joined semicircles rotating on a steel rod and mounted on pedestals, constituted Luis Díaz’s sculptural response to the manifesto of Grupo Vértebra. The sculptures were presented surrounded by 14 paintings portraying the group’s members and its development, as well as critics, gallerists, jurors, and other figures connected to the art world.
GUKUMATZ 1971
Constructed in situ with wooden crates for the XI São Paulo Biennial, Gukumatz en Persona (1971) earned Luis Díaz the Grand Latin American Prize. Inspired by Gukumatz, the feathered serpent of Maya cosmology, the work extended throughout the pavilion through a blue and white latex paint stripe that crossed the sidewalk, mezzanine, and sculpture. Unable to obtain permission to continue the stripe onto the pathways of Ibirapuera Park, the artist concluded the trajectory with a symbolic impact against a crashed Volkswagen.
SIMULTANEOUS SEQUENCES 1972
Part of the Simultaneous Sequences event (1972), which drew 400 people across three galleries in a single night: Biceps, screw-articulated fir wood sculpture pairs mounted on pedestals of varying heights, and Cubo al Cubo, a mahogany sculpture of a cube's diagonal that opens and closes on concealed hinges.
GEMINIS SCULPTURE 1981
A 12-meter-high by 12-meter-wide sculpture, positioned diagonally in the plaza between the two twin towers of the Géminis Building in Zone 10, Guatemala City. Constructed from steel plates weighing 8,000 pounds, the work represents a twin spatial figure, adorned with colors and patterns inspired by Guatemalan huipiles. The sculpture became an emblematic element and the identifying symbol of the building.
WORK ON PAPER 1987
The Environmental Installation of Works on Paper brings together 14 collages from the Las Maras series, 10 Living Artifacts—tetuntoid figures constructed from cardboard pieces joined by stitching—and four José León sculptures. The latter were designed to be transported in flat, one-square-meter boxes; their sculptural volume emerges by rotating the central element during installation. The installation explores the transformation of the plane into volume through inventive construction techniques.
ISOMETRIC 2003
With Efraín Recinos as guest artist, Isométrica (2003) explores memory and popular culture. The exhibition includes three top-view settings of served tables: Vincent with Van Gogh’s Ear, Ramón with Che Guevara’s Fingers, and Holyfield-Bobbit with a Severed Limb, creating a journey through one hundred years of cannibalistic marketing. At the center, four sculptures of garments encapsulated in transparent resin —Tasso, Recinos, Danny, and Guicho—. Alongside, a triptych of oil-on-canvas works depicts bloodstained objects.
INTERNATIONAL SCULPTURE FESTIVAL 2007
A marble sculpture created during the International Sculpture Festival, held in the gardens of the National Museum of Modern Art. Through two diagonal cuts, the artist transforms an initial block into a triangular-based pyramidal form. By shifting its planes in opposite directions—one to the right and the other to the left—he generates volume and movement. The intersection of the three diagonal edges creates an opening through which light passes, evoking the presence of an eye.
