SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS OF MOMENTS. Ramon Casalé Soler, museologist, historian, and art critic

"Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal."
—Gustave Courbet

It is often said that realist painting reflects reality in the most accurate and objective way possible, but with the uniqueness of distancing itself from idealization and preconceived concepts. That is why, unlike hyperrealism, which finds its own mirror in photography, realism brings us closer to seeing the city in a different way from what our eyes are accustomed to—just as Carlos Díaz does through his paintings.

Precisely, Francesc Miralles, on the occasion of an exhibition the artist held at Galerías Augusta in Barcelona almost three decades ago, commented in La Vanguardia that the most important aspect of his work was "bringing us closer to the indeterminate known," as it is difficult to identify the origin of the urban scenes depicted in his paintings.

Carlos Díaz has always remained faithful to his creative origins. Since I have known his work, I have observed that he gives great importance to three essential aspects of painting: light, shadow, and reflection. He incorporates all of them into the urban landscape, but with the particularity of presenting them from a fully personal perspective, where the main focus is not only on the buildings but also on the wet ground of the streets, rooftops, windows, fallen leaves from trees, potted plants (with or without greenery), empty benches waiting for someone to sit on them…

All these situations can be seen in the exhibition Tante belle cose, or in other words, "so many beautiful things," which is, in fact, how the artist perceives each element that emerges in his paintings. Beauty can be found in any corner of a city; one only needs to let their imagination flow and keep an open mind to capture what most people overlook. This is where we realize the true merit of his work: the search for the everyday to turn it into something essential.

For Carlos Díaz, the reflection of the wet ground—whether from rain or irrigation—as well as the shadows cast on a bare wall, indicate the presence of some living element moving through the street, the swaying of tree branches and leaves, or simply a plant placed in an unnoticed corner. He has discovered that by looking at the ground, things are happening—often insignificant details, but ones that hold great importance for him, which is why he incorporates them into his compositional vision.

We must consider that a city, no matter how big or small, contains an infinite number of places to discover. It has a past, a history, a tradition... but it is also dynamic and active, shaped by the transience and movement of its inhabitants. And it is precisely this everyday life that the artist captures in each of his works, which, even if it may not seem so, possess an abstract component that makes them even more compelling.

Overall, Carlos Díaz’s work immerses us in a world where reality is perceived in different ways, but above all, in the ability to capture fleeting moments and defining instants that occur around us. It is an environment that, although close by, we often fail to appreciate—but for the artist, it represents the realization of the creative act. An act that transports us to a better understanding of why his work represents a reality that captivates us while allowing us to appreciate it, no matter how insignificant it may seem.