Artist Karla Diaz turns insomnia into dream-like paintings
LA TimesA man dressed in brown stands before a row of trees, the color of his garments and the sturdiness of his posture evoking the solidity of the forest behind him. “El ´Árbol y el Tragafuegos” — “The Tree and the Fire Eater,” in English — was painted by Los Angeles artist Karla Diaz and it emerges from her dreams and her memories. The fire eater was inspired by “Dragón,” a man — and actual fire eater — she knew from her family’s native village in the Mexican state of Colima. “Like, ‘felt scared.’ Or ‘dancing folclórico.’ Or ‘I picked up a metralleta and started shooting people.’” For her insomnia paintings, she began to draw from that archive. Karla Diaz’s “Pollos La Estrella,” 2021, was inspired by a dream about a soap opera star and a chicken market.
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