24/7 Episode 06: Tony Diaz

Tony Diaz was born in January 1980 in San Antonio, Texas. He grew up loving music and fed his obsession with lessons, playing in bands, and listening to records. As he grew older, he started participating in the punk rock scene, enjoying the D.I.Y. aesthetic and the attitude. This new perspective fueled his creative drive, leading to his move to Austin, TX, and the formation of a record label he would use to begin his visual art career. The label required design work, and Tony drew on his past, making cut-and-paste photocopied punk-rock flyers to create a new and interesting persona known as “ANTI.”
Further development led to making wheat-pasted street art on the streets of Austin, as well as a burgeoning clothing line. Tony used his passion to teach himself to screen print as the clothing line began. This bore his newest creative obsession, and Industry Print Shop was born. With facilities and techniques now available, there was a sustainable way to continue to be creative and a myriad of new methods for “ANTI” to make new work. This printed and deconstructive process was in harmony with his previous attitude and D.I.Y. aesthetic, so the evolution of his current body of work began. The work is derivative of the punk-rock ethos. The imperfect results show the processes and reflect the gritty reality of daily life. Influenced by Andy Warhol, Winston Smith, and comic book illustration, Tony deconstructs and re-appropriates new compositions and narratives. His thought processes and techniques become the narrative in an intuition-based action and reaction. Deconstruction is the means through which the artist understands himself and others, and this literal deconstructive process yields visual results.

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thank you