Ramon Diaz Larger Than Life

RAMON DIAZ LARGER THAN LIFE

20 November - 10 December

J Studio Owner

Jia Estrella

Galleria Duemila Art Director

Silvana Ancellotti-Diaz

Graphic Designer

Jean Isabel Magcamit

Exhibition Notes

Angela “Lala” Singian

Life, Amplified

by Angela “Lala” Singian

Ramon Diaz’s work hits like a low, slow groove, difficult to ignore. In “Larger Than Life,” his canvases pull, thrust, and coil the viewer into a world brimming with pulse.

Much like the artist himself, there is a force that draws you in further. Diaz moves through his canvases with a natural ease, tracing forms as if recalling a rhythm only the artist can hear.

Edward Said once wrote, “The more one is able to leave one’s cultural home, the more easily is one able to judge it, and the whole world as well, with the spiritual detachment and generosity necessary for true vision.” In his early career, Diaz certainly left home enough.

Diaz’s travels, along with his penchant for Asian history with all its curvatures and ceremonial clarity, widened his lens and expanded sense of scale. This outward journey mirrors the expansiveness within his work in a vision shaped by both intimacy and distance.

Across the gallery, sumo wrestlers propel forward, grapple, and pivot. Horses canter, gallop, and rear, their manes dissolving into smoky washes. Koi fish swirl and twist, delicate yet firm against black ponds. In sepia tones, nudes stretch and sprawl as odalisques in Diaz’s signature visual language. Some figures echo the darkness of Goya, while others recall the taut elegance of Italian sculptor Marino Marini. These historic references merge with a sense of the contemporary, each form entering the canvas with Diaz’s grounded confidence as an artist, developed throughout the years.

Sensuous and alive, the artist’s work carries a distinctly Asian persuasion that is refracted through his own rhythm. Japanese figures in powerful stances, a sense of Chinese calligraphic style, and the dynamism of Tang horses coexist. All the while, koi fish suggest a sense of fortune. Yet the traditions of art history never dictate the composition. His personal lexicon as an artist expands the canvases with both scale and emotion.

Life moves through every stroke, shaped by Diaz’s own encounters. He recalls hitchhiking across Germany with a war veteran, a former tank driver, turned close friend. As a young man, he recounts spending a month camping among wolves and bears in Lapland’s silent, snow-laden forests, pensive underneath the northern lights. In Bali, he fondly recalls he and his wife stumbling on a waterfall where men and women bathed together, in a memory flowing with laughter and warmth. These experiences, combined with early training in printmaking and color separation in Munich, Germany, inform the layers that define Diaz’s work.

For a time, he ran the family business. But spreadsheets and sales offered sparse joy. He thrived instead in the visual world, where instinct guided the artist to form and movement, in either the coiling of sumo or the breath of a nude, expressing what language could not.

KOI KOI

A Rhapsody of Red and White oil on paper

44.00 x 30.00 cm / 17.34 x 11.82 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Koi-nobori, oil on paper, 78.50 x 110.00 cm / 30.93 x 43.34 in., 2025

2021

Reflections and Currents, oil on canvas, 155.00 x 567.00 cm / 61.07 x 223.40 in., 2025

Ramon Diaz, New Casting oil on canvas

137.05 x 137.05 cm / 54.00 x 54.00 in.

2013

Ramon Diaz Where Dreams Swim Upstream oil on canvas

59.00 x 45.00 cm / 23.25 x 17.73 in.

2025

Ramon Diaz Grace oil on canvas

106.60 x 91.40 cm / 42.00 x 36.01 in. 2013

Ramon Diaz Celebration mixed media on canvas

177.04 x 144.78 cm / 69.75 x 57.04 in. 2019

The Stretching ink & acrylic on paper

91.00 x 101.50 cm / 35.85 x 39.99 in.

2010

ichinese ink, gouache, pencil and pen on arch paper

80.00 x 57.00 cm / 31.52 x 22.46 in.

2020

Ramon Diaz, Welcoming the Ring, oil on wood

40.00 x 28.50 cm / 15.76 x 11.23 in., 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Mawashi, mixed media

78.50 x 109.50 cm / 30.93 x 43.14 in.,2013

Ramon Diaz Rikishi’s Hold chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.50 x 19.00 cm / 11.23 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Inashi

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.00 x 17.50 cm / 11.03 x 6.90 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, The Push watercolor and ink on paper, 35.00 x 25.00 cm / 13.79 x 9.85 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Winner’s Thrust chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.50 x 19.00 cm / 11.23 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Seriagari’s Performance

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.50 x 19.00 cm / 11.23 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Balance of Giants oil on canvas,

70.00 x 50.00 cm / 27.58 x 19.70 in. 2013-2025

Ramon Diaz Kimarite

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.50 x 19.00 cm / 11.23 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz CHIRI-CHOZU (No Concealed Weapons) ink & acrylic on paper

118.00 x 76.50 cm / 46.49 x 30.14 in. 2008-2025

Ramon Diaz

She, Concealed chinese ink on paper

18.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Pieta I

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

18.00 x 18.00 cm / 7.09 x 7.09 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz The Shape of Stillness chinese ink on paper

18.00 x 18.50 cm / 7.09 x 7.29 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Poise of Being chinese ink & watercolor on paper

18.00 x 18.00 cm / 7.09 x 7.09 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Reminiscence, mixed media

119.00 x 186.00 cm / 46.89 x 73.28 in., 2025

horses

40.00 x 28.50 cm / 15.76 x 11.23 in.

29.00 x 39.00 cm / 11.43 x 15.37 in. 2024-2025

41.00 x 28.00 cm / 16.15 x 11.03 in.

2024-2025

191.00 x 229.00 cm / 75.25 x 90.23 in. 2023

Ramon Diaz

Figure in Flux

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

King of the Wind

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Stance watercolor and 20.00 x 19.00 cm 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Which Way Does The Old Pony Run

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Crowned in Motion

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

In the Wake chinese ink & watercolor

20.00 x 19.00 cm 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Stance and ink on paper

cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz In Close Quarters

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz On Swift Horses

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz of Hoofbeats

watercolor on paper

cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Gathering watercolor and ink on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Stranger at My Door

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

28.00 x 28.50 cm / 11.03 x 11.23 in.

2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Force of the Frontier, watercolor and ink on paper

27.50 x 35.00 cm / 10.84 x 13.79 in., 2024-2025

Diaz, Spur of the Moment, water color and ink on paper

39.00 x 29.00 cm / 15.37 x 11.43 in., 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Run for the Roses

watercolor and ink on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Searchers

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Where Horizons Run

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Moonlight Grazing

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

19.00 x 20.00 cm / 7.49 x 7.88 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Wildflowers and Wild Horses

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Black Beauty

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Ballad of the Absent Mare

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Ballad of the Runaway Horse

chinese ink & watercolor on paper

20.00 x 19.00 cm / 7.88 x 7.49 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Illiad chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Gentle Tyrant chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Back in the Saddle Again chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Shadow and Sorrel chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Old Town Road

chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

The Untamed’s Gaze

chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Ghostly Hooves

chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

March and Hover chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Untitled chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Brief Encounter chinese ink on paper

44.50 x 30.50 cm / 17.53 x 12.02 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Mist on the Moor chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 28.00 cm / 11.03 x 11.03 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz

Whispers between Beings chinese ink on paper

40.00 x 30.00 cm / 15.76 x 11.82 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz Monochrome Steed chinese ink on paper

40.00 x 30.00 cm / 15.76 x 11.82 in. 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz A Blaze oil on paper

42.00 x 30.00 cm / 16.55 x 11.82 in. 2024-2025

30.00 x 42.00 cm / 11.82 x 16.55 in., 2024-2025

30.00 x 42.00 cm / 11.82 x 16.55 in., 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Riders in the Sky, chinese ink on paper

30.00 x 40.00 cm / 11.82 x 15.76 in., 2024-2025

Ramon Diaz, Untitled, chinese ink on paper

28.00 x 46.00 cm / 11.03 x 18.12 in., 2024-2025

animals animals

In Diaz’s work, what seems truly larger than life is his interior world. Despite the travel and landscapes that shaped him, he is grounded by home.

His family is expansive and immediate, and he speaks of them with the same fondness he gives his stories of youth. This grounding provides his canvases with their center of gravity—wit, humor, and a slow, confident pull of desire inhabit the work.

Materiality, too, plays a central role. Diaz favors Chinese ink, oil, and mixed media, as his surfaces hold both intimacy and monumentality. His sculptures, whether fiberglass horses, carved wooden sailboats, or gilded metal figures, can be found in homes and collections from Manila to New York and Europe. Art historical echoes remain present but never overpower his own impulses, turning the familiar into something audacious.

Landscapes, strangers, and the past mingle with the present, are distilled into forms that feel heroic yet intimate, monumental yet human, playful yet commanding. His slight exaggerations mirror the way Diaz tells his stories, in a manner always humorous and very umch alive. Desire is never literal. It appears in how figures press against space and how a koi or nude seems to breathe with its own internal rhythm.

Besides the looming canvases of wrestlers and racehorses that fill one’s vision, it is ultimately the artist’s persona that reveals life at its largest.

Through style, image, and technique, Diaz transmits a worldview that feels both generous and electric. So, if perhaps, what is larger than life is the moment when his children stand before his canvases, curious and wideeyed, inheriting the rhythm of a life intensely observed. Through them, scale becomes more than the measurement of a canvas but the measure of a life lived expansively, attentively, and fully.

This, perhaps, is the true subject of “Larger Than Life.” Not spectacle, but a given form with clarity, intimacy, and presence, all amplified.

In cooperation with