Alejandro Diaz American, b. 1963
Breakfast Tacos at Tiffany’s II, 2003/2021
Performance/intervention in which hand-painted cardboard signs were sold and distributed to passersby in Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue shopping district. The work consists of a photograph printed on aluminum and a cast resin acrylic painted sign
28 x 18 in
71.12 x 45.72 cm
71.12 x 45.72 cm
Edition 1 of 3 plus 2 AP
Diaz's conceptual, campy, and political cardboard signs-which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 1990s-are emblematic of his recurrent use of everyday materials and...
Diaz's conceptual, campy, and political cardboard signs-which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 1990s-are emblematic of his recurrent use of everyday materials and his continuing involvement with art as a form of entertainment, activism, public intervention, and free enterprise. The cardboard sign series started when Diaz moved to New York City to study at Bard Curatorial Studies and work as an intern at the Whitney Museum of American Art. The artist remarks, “In art school there are many things they don’t teach you but most importantly they don’t teach you how to make a living… I did end up making a little extra cash but more importantly I discovered that through these signs I was able to engage with a broad public outside of the art world.” The cardboard sign series is ongoing and continues to evolve with some of the sayings now being produced in neon.
"It was interesting because as I began writing sayings on the cardboard, the sayings became a little more pithy, funny, and more pointed at political situations or socio economic issues. I thought, until then, this is a way I can make art and a little extra money for art supplies. It was a way I could reach the public directly, outside of the framework of a museum or an art gallery. I think that my messages got directly across to people. These pieces are kind of performances and interventions."
-Alejandro Diaz
"It was interesting because as I began writing sayings on the cardboard, the sayings became a little more pithy, funny, and more pointed at political situations or socio economic issues. I thought, until then, this is a way I can make art and a little extra money for art supplies. It was a way I could reach the public directly, outside of the framework of a museum or an art gallery. I think that my messages got directly across to people. These pieces are kind of performances and interventions."
-Alejandro Diaz
