Portraiture has historically been a means to perpetuate appearance, but in this series, Diego Diaz subverts the notion of superficial identity. Drawing from a profound study of masterpieces such as Rembrandt's Slaughtered Ox (1655), as well as its later visceral reinterpretations by Francis Bacon and Chaim Soutine, the artist explores the human condition from its biological literalness.

The suspended flesh ceases to be a still life to become a contemporary self-portrait: a reflection on vulnerability, matter, and the transience of the body in the face of time.

Through rigorous pictorial treatment and an economy of means that emphasizes volume and light, these pieces challenge the viewer to find the sublime in that which we normally avoid looking at.