About Artwork

Alejandro Diaz makes a consistent use of a wry wit and humor in work that explores aspects of his life as an artist and his sense of identity as a Mexican-American. His light-box work reading No Shoes, No Shirt, You’re Probably Rich (2015) delivers an acerbically cutting indictment either of the way that the wealthy feel entitled to defy rules of social decorum that the less fortunate are compelled to adhere to, or of the “permanent vacation” that the well-off are able to enjoy. His augmentation of the “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” sign one sees in many restaurants and public businesses, neatly encapsulates the sentiments many possess with regard to the increasing income inequality that characterizes life in the United States today.

Read more about RISD Museum’s curatorial programming here.