Incarcerated artist Jose “J. D.” Diaz started taking drawing seriously about three years ago. When he first started sketching, he did not know in which direction he wanted to go. He recently started painting.
According to Diaz, his art resembles life itself. Much like a working on canvas or sketching, it captures “the impermanence aspiring towards the finished piece.”
“Art is an attempt to express what words cannot. It is an attempt to catch my feelings,” Diaz said. “It just comes out as beauty.”
He created a multi-figured collage that combined Medusa, the Illuminati eye, and images of Aztec culture. In his description of the way he created Medusa, he noted that her beauty gave her the ability to capture anything she wanted.
Diaz highlighted the function of art, likening art to an evolution of styles, like the way one would speak and even how a person might think.
To commemorate the late Kobe Bryant, the artist created a portrait of the famous basketball player and his daughter, who both had died in an aviation accident. According to the artist, it took him approximately 50 hours over one month to complete the work.
“When I saw the original picture of Kobe and his daughter, there was depth to it. For one moment in life, it seemed like everything was perfect between father and daughter,” Diaz said.
He also created a portrait of famous musician Billie Eilish, sourced from a magazine. He took on a challenge to reconstruct the magazine picture more creatively by adding two smaller portraits of Eilish. He added to the original picture after he noticed another image that displayed a different persona of Eilish. He wanted to combine these pictures to display additional aspects of his subject’s personality.
As a lifer, art helped Diaz to challenge himself, despite his circumstances. He said he considered art a part of life. “[Art] allows you to mold yourself; it helps in how one expresses himself, whether you are a writer, painter, or just someone who is trying to grow in life.”
The artist reflected on how far his talent has progressed. He said that while working on his pieces, other residents would approach him and offer positive feedback.
Diaz’s face beamed as he described an occasion in which an outside group visited SQRC’s Arts in Corrections studio and observed one of Diaz’s portraits of the pop icon Sade. “They couldn’t tell whether it was the original.” He then proudly told the visitors that had painted it.
Telling a story about having sent some of his pieces home to his mother, the artist walked down memory lane as he described a scene in which his mother reminded him that he had liked to draw since he was three years old. His mother asked him, “Where’s mine at? Ya no me quieres, [You don’t love me no more or what?].” She would tease him after he had sent a couple drawings to his brother and not to her.
As a student of art, Diaz said he recognized that everyone has faced challenges and he added that all challenges belonged to the process of life. He said he believed in that process.
“Things don’t always go the way you wanted them to go,” Diaz concluded. “So whoever you are as an artist, believe in yourself regardless of anything.”
—Jordan Junious and Cesar Martinez contributed to this article
