Bio
Born in Mexico City, Diego Zelaya graduated from Cardiff School of Art and Design in the United Kingdom. His work explores the relationship between dichotomies: the relationships between the old and the new, familiarity and estrangement, beauty and horror, black and white, abstraction and figuration, chaos and order. Zelaya has exhibited in both galleries and museums in Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, France, and Spain, receiving numerous international prizes and grants during the course of his career.
Statement
“Alfombra II is one of a series of paintings that depict a visual stroll through a legendary valley, which I have called The Horse in the Cauldron. That story is summarized as follows:
In the morning of the accident, one could hear rocks fracture and the sky became clouded in seconds. They called this phenomenon a ‘volcanic cauldron.’ For years, right under the lake, a magma vault had accumulated and at this point the pressure was so high it ended up exploding. The lake was vaporized and the town destroyed.
People that had family there, and some inquisitive people, as well, ventured into what was left of the town. When they came back, they spoke about a dense and warm fog with an acrid smell. When they tried to find their loved ones, it was impossible to recognize them.
I only dared to go into that valley once; the idea of becoming disoriented in such a place was frightening, One afternoon, my curiosity got the better of me, and I took my mother’s lantern and descended through the hill. In an instant, the fog surrounded me and everything became very dark. The silence flooded the environment and all I could hear were my own footsteps against the mud.
All of a sudden, a white horse ran past me. He seemed to be made out of a very dull light. Almost as if made by wax and ashes. His stride was silent, and he disappeared into the middle of the mist.”
