Pablo Diaz in the Artist Studio
Date & Time
Free First Thursday
Thursday, October 1, 2026
10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
This event is in the past.
Tickets
FREE admission for
Free First Thursday
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, join Pablo Diaz in the Artist Studio on Free First Thursday. Pablo's visit will focus on a mask painting project, as well as display other works, including woodblock, prints, and paintings.
From the Artist
As we grow older and must migrate or move through this space we call reality, we have to face difficulties and joy. We embody these particular challenges with amusement, kindness, and the tenderness of something that pulls it all together. Our body is what lives through all the experiences, and as we go through these different stages of life, we put on masks as well as rituals that transfigure our personality. Through this painting, I will paint masks painted by people visiting the exhibition; with their input and the materials I will have on the table for them (plastics, metal and cartboard), they will reconfigure and create their own prototype of reality, guided by questions such as: How and where do I belong now? What is the nature surrounding me that I can see has transformed the way I see myself and other beings?
About the Painting - "Masks of Late-Stage Capitalism at Cascadia" is a tribute to all the cultures in the area that have been using these artifacts for narration, tales, and legends as collective memories. This is an approach to how we need the performance of happiness and joy in our daily lives by surrounding ourselves with beautiful things, but also to the realization of daily rituals and the idea of museums as keepers of cultures and as places of reunion with objects that came from different places and have a meaning, a soul attached to them, and a purpose.
This piece will try to reconnect those loose pieces into one piece of unity, realizing that even if we come from different places, we embody certain legends, and for a moment we belong in the here and now.
About the Artist
Pablo Diaz is an artist from the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley. At the age of eight, he sensed that the world must extend beyond the small town in which he was living, he resolved to do something about it. Following a period of critical reflection, he came to recognize himself as the embodiment of what the state categorizes as a mestizo, belonging neither here or there. What mask was he trying to wear, if the one he already wore did not fulfill all the expectations? He decided to create his own pathway; he studied arts and design, then fell in love with and had his heart broken by-the academy and after a long period of introspection, he began to paint and to carve, and through this he still feels hope for the future, hoping to bring reflection and awareness to this time.
