Daniel Saxon
Daniel Saxon is a gallerist who represented Almaraz in the 1980s at Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles. He later opened Saxon-Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, where Almaraz periodically exhibited works.
In 1982, Carlos was starting to exhibit at the Los Angeles art gallery that I co-owned, the Jan Turner Gallery. His studio was in downtown L.A. on Spring Street, close to my [other] office for my fashion advertising/marketing firm. Thus, we decided to often lunch in a small downtown restaurant where we could chat in quiet surroundings. I discovered a sophisticated young man with a vibrant personality. There was much we shared—his early youth in Chicago, mine in Brooklyn. His early interest in poetry, mine in classical music. His early interest in graphic art, mine in advertising. We talked endlessly about our personal lives and expectations. And of course, his strong feelings about Chicano culture and its relationship to our American way of life, mine in developing interest in classical music for the youth of our country. All amazing parallels; yet interestingly, our chats never centered on fine art.
These private lunch chats (with a glass of wine in hand), continued for a number of years after I opened the Saxon-Lee Gallery, where we specialized in and represented the best of Chicano art which often included Carlos very profound paintings. With it all, Carlos was an intensely private person. I was equally as private. Inch by inch, we both opened up our innermost confidential feelings to each other, something men rarely do. To this day, I miss Carlos Almaraz.