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Luis Cruz Azaceta (born April 5, 1942) is a Cuban American painter. Azateca has been active in painting and drawing since the late 1970s. In usually large-format works executed with highly expressive colors, Cruz Azaceta has dealt with themes of urban violence, the type of personal isolation that comes with living in a large and overcrowded city, the hellish conditions created by mismanaged government, the abuses and oppression of dictatorships, and in a number of works done in the late 1980s, the ravages of AIDS.


Early life and work

Luis Cruz Azaceta was born in
Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
. As a teenager, he witnessed many acts of violence on the streets of
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
: bombs in stores, cinemas and theaters, shoot-outs, arrests, and torture of citizens by
Batista Batista is a Spanish or Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also known as Batista * Edina Alves Batis ...
secret police. In 1959, the
Cuban revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cour ...
brought jubilation and celebration when Castro promised to restore Cuba's constitution and
free elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
. Months later executions began, businesses were confiscated and some closed. Azaceta's experiences under both
Batista Batista is a Spanish or Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include: * Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player * Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also known as Batista * Edina Alves Batis ...
and post-revolution impacted his vision—creating a sensitivity towards violence, human cruelty, injustice, and alienation—which later become central themes in his work. At 18 years old, Azaceta left
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
for
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
. Drawing and painting became the means for expressing himself and creating an identity in the big metropolis of the city. In 1969, he graduated from the
School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...
in Manhattan. After graduation, he developed series of works addressing the human condition. In 1975, he had his first solo show at the Allan Frumkin Gallery on 57th Street, exhibiting works from the Subway Series. In the mid-1970s, at the beginning of his career, Azaceta tended to fill his compositions with numerous cartoony images and figures which were boldly colored and clearly outlined. Many of the paintings articulate a shallow cramped space. Azaceta underscores his vision of the urban dweller as a threatened figure, someone who is constantly being pushed, pulled, and squeezed by both the environment and other people. While Azaceta's "apocalyptic pop" style characterized his initial entry into the
art world The art world comprises everyone involved in producing, commissioning, presenting, preserving, promoting, chronicling, criticizing, buying and selling fine art. It is recognized that there are many art worlds, defined either by location or alt ...
, he soon felt a need to move on. It could be said that Azaceta's need to change is not only one of the features that distinguishes him from other painters, whether figurative or abstract, but it is also emblematic of his life as both an exile and an alien. He lives in the
Diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews afte ...
and knows that home is something he carries with him that there is no final and permanent refuge. By the 1980s, his cramped compositions shift to a centralized, nude figure (often self-portrait) that dominates the composition. The mood and color are somber and the figure is often distorted. Luis Cruz Azaceta is one of the great expressionists. In the
neo-expressionist Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', '' Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'Ne ...
boom of the 80s, he was who revived "the historic role of expressionism as a social and moral force", as Rachel Weiss said. Azaceta is the great urban chronicler, the painter of contemporary Babylons with their landscapes of violence, drugs, crime, plagues, and fires. It is not strange that the great critical painting of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
as paradigm of a metropolis has been carried out by an immigrant of the
Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the Nor ...
.


Later life and work

In the early 1990s his work incorporated figuration and abstraction, perhaps extending from some of the works of the Aids Epidemic Series where abstraction is present as an ominous abyss. He returns to the subject of
Balseros Balseros (''Rafters'', from the Spanish ''Balsa'' Raft) was the name given to boat people who emigrated without formal documentation in self constructed or precarious vessels from Cuba to neighboring states including The Bahamas, Jamaica, the Ca ...
and Exiles using fields of circles and grids to generate a piercing dialog with the figure. In 1992 he moves with his wife and two sons from New York to
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Katrina series. Numerous series follow, some of which include the Museum Plans, Shifting States, Shootings in Sandy Hook and the Boston Bombing. With Museum Plans, Luis Cruz Azaceta once again demonstrates an enviable ability to analyze culture and society. ...He now has the sensitivity to see the pitfalls and difficult aspects of the individuals and institutions who govern culture, and he is able to brilliantly express them in those labyrinths of lines devoid of exits. The series Shifting States (2011-2012) is dedicated to the shocks that we have witnessed in recent years: Economies crumble, revolutions, wars, civil movements against social injustice, sudden climatic changes. The title of the series has a double meaning, referring to a time of major changes that we witness and the psychological state (the shifting state) which involves a state of self-awareness that leads to the necessary transformation. In his most recent series, Azaceta is delivered to one of the most pressing issues in American society today: mass shootings and domestic terrorism. His series of
Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern e ...
and the Boston Bombing are paradigmatic in this regard. Azaceta's work has been featured in more than 100 solo exhibitions in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. Currently his work can be seen at the
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...
, New York, in the exhibition entitled, " I, YOU, WE", curated by David Kiehl, and at the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...
, Washington, D.C., in the exhibition entitled, OUR AMERICA: THE LATINO PRESENCE IN AMERICAN ART, curated by E. Carmen Ramos. In his critically acclaimed 2013 solo exhibitio
Dictators, Terrorism, War and Exiles
at Aljira, Center for Contemporary Art, curator,
Alejandro Anreus Alejandro Anreus is a curator, art historian and critic who has focused his research on Latin American Art. Though he began his career as an artist, Anreus is now an art historian and poet, and is professor of art history and Latin American/Latino ...
writes that Luis Cruz Azaceta is committed "to bearing witness to the political crisis of humanity. His work reflects how he identifies with isolation and oppression and speaks to both the horror and determination that is a part of the journey towards survival and freedom." He has received numerous awards and grants, including the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...
, The Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant, The Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, Pollock/Krasner Grant, Penny McCall,
New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organization ...
, Mid-Atlantic Grant for Special Projects and the Cintas Foundation. His work can be seen in numerous museum collections, some of which include:
The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...
, NY,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, NY,
The Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...
, NY, the
Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...
, Washington, D.C.,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
, the
Delaware Art Museum The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 objects. The museum was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artis ...
, Museo De Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Museo De Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, Atrium Museo De Arte Contemporaneo, Victoria Gasteoz, Spain
Kendall Art Center The Kendall Art Center is an arts center in Kendall, Miami-Dade County, Florida in the United States. It houses the Rodriguez Collection, owned by the Cuban-born American businessman Leonardo Rodríguez and his family. History The center wa ...
, Miami, Florida and Museo De Arte Contemporaneo De Monterrey, Mexico.


References


External links


Artist's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Azaceta, Luis Cruz Living people 1942 births 21st-century Cuban painters Painters from Louisiana 20th-century Cuban painters 20th-century Cuban male artists 20th-century American male artists American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century Cuban male artists 21st-century American male artists 20th-century American painters People from Havana School of Visual Arts alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States Male painters