Jigger Cruz

Jigger Cruz's work explores the role of the contemporary painter in conversation with the vast history of classical painting. He is best known for his impasto paintings which incorporate layers of various mediums including watercolors, oil paint, resin, and spray paint to evoke a sense of destruction and defacement of the traditional painting practice. His collection Smudging Dirty Little Touch (2016) is comprised of paint-slathered canvases which exude from the frame. Cruz seeks to present painting as installation, depicting his work as art objects, often leaving structural elements such as stretcher bars exposed. The subjects of his works are entangled, interweaving both recognizable and abstract elements.

Cruz's work has been exhibited widely throughout the Phillipines and internationally, with solo shows at Albertz Benda in New York, ARNDT in Singapore, West Gallery in the Phillipines, Primae Noctis Gallery in Switzerland, Ayala Museum in the Phillipines, 1:AM Gallery in San Francisco, Tala Gallery in the Philippines, and Pablo Gallery in the Philippines. His work can be found in public collections at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Saatchi Collection in London, and The Dikeou Collection in Denver, Colorado.