“The beauty of clay is in its imperfection.”
Each piece by Antonio Diaz carries the unmistakable trace of the hand—textured, alive, and never predictable. His work is less about controlling material than engaging in a dialogue with it. Clay resists, shifts, and transforms, and from that tension come forms that are both intimate and expansive. Every sculpture is a moment captured in process: shaped by clay, shaped by experience.
Explore
COSMIC DANCE by Antonio Diaz & Stefan Hengst
Cosmic Dance brings together Antonio Diaz’s ceramics and Stefan Hengst’s reworked prints—part digital, part painting—in a single immersive environment where sculpture and painting merge. Ceramics of varying scale intermingle with printed and painted compositions, dissolving the line between two and three dimensions.
The exhibition was initiated by gallerist Leila Heller after visiting the duo’s Chelsea studio. Seeing their works side by side, she recognized a shared visual rhythm—what the artists call 1 + 1 = 3: the unexpected energy that emerges from deep collaboration.
For Diaz and Hengst, the exhibition is not just about artworks in a room but about an evolving relationship—personal, creative, and universal. Their 27-year partnership underpins the project, where making together becomes its own choreography: forming, dissolving, and reforming like a dance with time itself.
Cosmic Dance premiered at Leila Heller Gallery, New York City, in 2023.
Work
OVERVIEW
Collaboration
OVERVIEW
About
Antonio Diaz
Born in Granada and based in New York City, Antonio Diaz is a ceramic artist whose work explores form, imperfection, and transformation. His fascination with sculpture began at a young age, rooted in an early sensitivity to shape and texture.
After a forty-year career as a hairstylist—another kind of sculptural practice—Diaz returned to clay, his first passion. Each piece emerges as a collaboration between artist and material, balancing intention with the unpredictable nature of the medium.
What begins as an effort toward precision inevitably shifts, leading to unexpected results. Surfaces carry hand-built textures and subtle irregularities, preserving the memory of their making. For Diaz, these moments are not flaws but essential to the vitality of the work.
His ceramics feel alive—objects that hold presence, invite reflection, and continue to evolve in dialogue with their surroundings. Shaped by the artist yet never fully contained, each piece stands as a unique expression of process and transformation.
Recognition
Exhibitions
2023— Cosmic Dance, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY, USA (Collaboration with Stefan Hengst)
2023— Holiday Show, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY, USA (Group)
2024 — Earthcrafted Design, Porcelanosa Flag Ship Store, New York, NY, USA (Group)
Contact
Whether you’re interested in a specific piece, a commission, or simply learning more about my practice, I’d love to connect.