Bob Marley #1 Painting

Christian Cadiz (1969, Los Angeles, United States) is a painter and muralist based in Southern California. Growing up in Hollywood in the 70’s and 80’s, Christian Cadiz experienced a harsher Hollywood than we think of today. It’s through this lens, he sees the world. With his formal training in Special Effects/Makeup at Joe Blasco, he learned the “Art of the Mask”. People come to Los Angeles for the Hollywood Dream. Christian spins the “dream” through his lens. In his portraits, Christian takes off the mask and portrays the darker, more raw expressionist side of the entertainer. Instead of depicting the visible exterior of his subjects, Christian expresses their emotional experience through his art. His paintings ask the viewer to look deeper, beyond the public perception of “entertainer” and the Hollywood Dream. Inspired by German Expressionist painters such as Ernst Kirchner and Otto Dix, Christian’s style shows greater expressionism in combinations of strong colors, lines, texture and perspective. Cadiz explores this dynamic in his landscape and portrait paintings. His twisted interpretation of subjects establishes a bridge between reality and that imagined by the artist. Christian is inspired by Van Gogh’s brushstrokes and lines; Hieronymus Bosch as storyteller and Francis Bacon for his blurry facial expressions. He likes to paint to industrial and rock music, which inspires an authentic creative impulse. He plays guitar everyday and is passionate about protecting human and animal rights. He lives and works in Laguna Beach, CA with his fiancé, Aimee and their pet Amore.