Lot description
Disjointed (Diptych) signed and dated 2015 (lower right) oil and spray paint on canvas and wood 67 3/4" x 111" (172 cm x 282 cm) EXHIBITED ARNDT Fine Art Berlin, Jigger Cruz: Subtraction Paradise, Berlin, Germany, 4 June - 29 August 2015 Jigger Cruz’s signature practice—layering paint through acts of overpainting, cutting, burning, and defacement—reflects both rebellion and renewal. What may at first appear as chaos slowly reveals an underlying order, an aesthetic coherence built from destruction. Through thick impasto and sculptural texture, Cruz transforms the surface into a battlefield of gesture and intent, one that dismantles the traditional reverence for the painted image. In art historical terms, Cruz’s process can be read through Rosalind Krauss’s concept of the “post-medium condition,” in which the purity of painting gives way to an expanded field of material and conceptual play. His canvases refuse to be flat—they exist as hybrid objects, occupying a space between painting and sculpture, image and matter. By obscuring and overwhelming the original image beneath layers of color and texture, Cruz stages a confrontation between creation and erasure. The result is a body of work that interrogates not only what painting can depict, but what it is. Ultimately, Cruz’s art speaks to the tension between tradition and transgression—a visual dialogue between control and chaos, beauty and ruin. His pieces, alive with tactile energy, remind us that destruction, too, can be a form of creation. A graduate of Far Eastern University, Cruz’s path to painting was anything but conventional. It wasn’t until 2011—after meeting acclaimed artist Manuel Ocampo, under whom he apprenticed—that he decided to take up painting fulltime. Since then, he has exhibited at respected spaces such as Tala Gallery, Blanc Art Space, and Ayala Museum, and his works have been shown internationally in Singapore, Switzerland, and New York. Cruz also took part in the seminal WASAK! Filipino Art Today exhibition organized by ARNDT, a groundbreaking showcase that brought the energy of Philippine contemporary art to the global stage. (Jed Daya)
