Angela de la Cruz

Why this artist matters now

At first glance, de la Cruz's paintings appear to have been vandalised or flagrantly abused. Mangled stretchers, slashed canvases, twisted and violated, are hung on the wall like macabre trophies, and yet it is this deliberate and systematic desecration of the canvases, which informs the end result. Emotionally raw, yet canny and sharply ironic, de la Cruz confronts the 'problem' with painting by incorporating its very destruction into the work itself. "The moment I cut through the canvas I get rid of the grandiosity of painting."Violent, unapologetic and often darkly humorous, her work unabashedly exposes a visceral emotionalism, breaking the barriers of the established norms of painting. Implicit is the sense that a scene of frenetic violent activity has just taken place leaving in its wake the strangely paradoxical feeling of spent energy and a sense of calm; a visual catharsis. She has been nominated for 2010 Turner Prize Shortlist.

Source: Artsy · Trust score: 85% · Updated 1mo ago