Luis Hernandez Cruz

Luis Hernandez Cruz is a Puerto Rican graphic artist, painter, and sculptor. His work has an extremely wide range, not only in medium, but in subject matter as well. His graphic pieces appear very digital with a pixilated effect. They vary in color patterns, giving some the illusion of a distorted checkerboard covering an image in the background. His paintings contrast between resembling graphic art designs in texture, and showing his painterly strokes in minimalist pieces. His sculptures are reminiscent of primitive art in terms of the materials and medium with a contemporary touch in purpose. Unlike primitive Caribbean art, Cruz’s sculptures are not meant for actual use either ritualistic or for everyday use. His painterly styled paintings and 3D pieces are the most reminiscent of his Puerto Rican heritage, while his graphic design reflects American or European training. However, as a whole portfolio his work is reflective of a modern Caribbean artist with outside influences, specifically American. In fact, Cruz studied art at both the University of Puerto Rico and the American University in Washington, DC, making him a bit of a medley artist in both his training and his inspiration. No matter where he goes with his art, he stays true to color. He consistently uses a mixture of saturated hues in his pieces. If anything, he avoids tints, shades, and neutral tones, an aspect that is very common in Caribbean art.

Cruz was a pioneer in the 1960s of bringing abstract art to the Caribbean, specifically in implicating it as a legitimate form of art in Puerto Rico. He was so successful in this that he helped found and became the president of the Congress of Abstract Art in Puerto Rico.

I am inspired by Cruz’s passion to bring what he learned in America and believed in as art to Puerto Rico. His passion to change art in Puerto Rico shows passion for his country and for his heritage, an aspect that is admired among all Latin people. No matter where we go in life, we have our roots, and while some people choose to escape their roots and travel as far as possible to do so, others have their loyalties to where they come from no matter where they go in life. Luis Hernandez Cruz is not only an example of cultural pride, but a man who helped bring his culture to date in contemporary art, and who combined his beliefs and concepts as an artist with his heritage. Cruz’s work is inspiring for what it stands for to me. His portfolio is an example of the meshing of culture and applying it wherever he went.

Cruz, Luis Hernandez. Luis Hernandez Cruz: Painter, Printmaker, Sculptor. CCG. 2009. Web. 12 August 2011. <http://www.luishernandezcruz.com/>.