Damien Cruz

I am a simple person. My art is far from sophisticated: it contains no symbols or hidden messages. My paintings are bright and colorful and my subjects are pure and simple. I don’t want my art to be interesting, I want it to be good.

The present collection is a series of works using acrylic on canvas. The subject matter originated from my memory of Cuban landscapes and my imagination. I first developed my ideas through a series of sketches, and then drew directly on the prepared canvas using charcoal. I began painting thin layers of color, gradually building subsequent layers of paint until I achieved the desired color density over the entire surface.

I was born in Havana in 1977. As a child I would paint for long hours because it gave me pleasure. But I didn’t discover that I had any artistic ability until I was 19, when a professor of art saw my paintings. That year I was admitted in San Alejandro Academy of Fines Arts, directly in the fourth year of the program on account of “my exceptional talents”. In 1999 my family and I moved to Miami, where I currently live and work.