Marcio Diaz
Marcio Diaz
“In the brush strokes of a painter, lies the history of his people” – Marcio Díaz
I was born in Murra, a small farming town in northern Nicaragua. I loved my home, but soon realized that my talent lay not in working the land, but in painting. Eager to develop my skill, I left the countryside in 1994 to enroll at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Managua. I gradually widened the focus of my education and graduated with a BA in architecture paying my way through college by teaching painting and art history. Although I worked as an architect for several years, eventually my love for the act of creation led me to return to my painting. Now I devote myself exclusively to that.
Growing up in a rural environment gave me a special awareness for the intensity and variety of colors I found around me. As a result, all the colors I paint with can be found on Nature’s spectrum, whether it’s the blazing red of an Amapola flower, the iridescent sheen of the Guardabarranco’s feathers, or the ecstatic rainbow of a folkloric dress. At harvest time, the fields and forests of my homeland are saturated with all the hues of imagination; these are just a few of the memories that inspire my palette . . .
As you can see, I am passionate about using rich and vibrant colors in my paintings. Some painters start with a sketch, but when I begin a piece, I rush a gamut of pigments directly onto the empty canvas. (Only when I see a canvas with something already happening on it can I sketch in a background.) Next I apply successive layers of color to the drawing by dipping my brush into the paint and letting drip onto the canvas. Using a special technique, I heat the canvas and then—when the pigments are almost dry—I wipe it down. To finish the piece, I add a neutral color that acts as a perceptual net linking one spot of color to another, followed by many smaller circles of color to reinforce and harmonize the whole composition. I know I am done painting when I can look at a piece and relive my feelings coursing through each brush stroke.
Spirituality bubbles up from my canvasses, swirls around, then melts back into the scenery. Children can sense this. In fact, the first time I exhibited this technique in public, children were especially taken with it. They spontaneously started calling it “bubble painting.” So, following their lead, I decided to call my style bubblism.
I am constantly studying art around the world and adapting what I like most to my own style. Currently, I am developing my vision of the bubble technique as a new concept within contemporary art, but my dream for the long-term future is to build and fund an art school for underprivileged young artists in my hometown in Nicaragua.
I own one of your paintings. It is the best of your work. I bought it in Tacoma, WA and love it. It was during a monthly gathering called: 100th Monkey. Do you remember it?