Today we’d like to introduce you to Julián Gonzalez-Diaz
Hi Julián, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am Julian Gonzalez-Diaz. I am a multidisciplinary artist, usually working with oil paints and photography, Chicago born and Georgia raised. My work as of recent uses my Mexican heritage and how that culture has found its way to the Southern United States.
I have drawn and painted since a toddler and started to home in on developing my skills and art direction in high school. Around the end of 2020 I started to visit Atlanta more and checking galleries regularly and meeting other friends in the art scene. Outside of the arts I study business and am working full time in the logistics field.
My favorite color is maroon, I am an Aquarius, and I have a dog named Brownie.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
If anything, it feels like it has been too smooth. I have made plenty of friends in the Atlanta art scene since I’ve started coming down and participating in shows. I feel that it’s a very accepting community and I’m very thankful for it.
Any struggles I’ve had have been internally, trying to figure out what direction to take my work. It makes me wish in a way there was more competition between visual artists. I feel like it would make my work stronger if I was in some sort of rivalry with another painter. There should be visual artist beef, just for the sport of course. I don’t know what that would look like, but maybe that’ll happen soon.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Painting would be my strongest suit. I love to create still lives and portraits that reflect my perspective of living in Georgia as a Chicano. I feel that whenever someone hears the term “Chicano”, they think of Los Angeles and the rich culture they have there, but there’s a growing community here in Georgia that many don’t know about it. The South already has deep roots in culture, history, fashion and when you mix that with Mexican culture you get something that’s really unique and special. I try to highlight that mix within my work and am figuring out better ways to show that to people who are unaware.
How do you define success?
I feel like the idea of success moves up for me every few months, which can be a blessing and a curse. I am very thankful for any opportunities that come my way, but my approach is usually to enjoy a win briefly and then to ask myself “What’s next?”. For me, I feel like I just need to have a consistent flow of creating and exhibiting work to feel content about my practice.
Last year in 2024 I had my first solo exhibition at the Mexican General Consulate of Atlanta, and it felt so great to be able to display a body of work I had been working on for two years. The opening reception was great and guests enjoyed the work, but after that I immediately felt like “How can I one up this?”.
That being said, I do like a good win and feeling successful. Last year I was able to collaborate with brands like 1800 Tequila and UPS directly with my art. I would say that those two collabs were the highlights of my career so far and can see more coming very soon.
As of right now, I am trying to figure out how to apply my business and logistics background into the arts. I love creating work and organizing with other artists, but I feel like there’s so many niches that can worked on in the art scene, especially in Atlanta. I’ve been playing with an idea I called “Caldo” and recently bought the domain caldoatl.com to go along with it. Not much going on with it yet, but more is soon to come. I also want to try my hand in mural painting. It looks like so much fun and a challenge to work with a big canvas.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://juliangonzalezdiaz.com
- Instagram: @juliandiazgonzalez
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-gonzalez-diaz-bb8a8020a
Image Credits
Photos by Alexa Brown
@uhlexapro on Instagram
