Artwork description:

This is an original acrylic and mixed media painting on a mounted collage of gelatin silver prints by American artist Jerry De La Cruz (b 1948, Denver, CO). The work is a horizontal format, 10” high by 16.5” wide. The framed size of the work is 17.25” high by 22.75” wide.
The subject is a grouping of photorealistic female portraits. A close-up of a young woman with fine features is used as a triptych across the picture plane. Expressionistic brushstrokes in neon yellows, pinks and oranges surround the three face images which retain some remnants of the original white photographic edges around each. In front of this montage is another photographic image of a young woman, this one shown hip high. She wears a sleeveless black top, bright sunglasses, dangle earrings and waves a small American flag. She is shown in profile, her head turned toward the viewer in apparent boredom.
This work is from the artist’s “Painted Photo Series.“ The original photographs were taken by him, developed in the darkroom by him, and then, once the collage of photos was mounted, was painted by him. The palette is primarily the neon tones of the paint in yellows, oranges, pinks and turquoise. The work is titled “I Choose Door #1.” It is in pristine condition and signed front lower left by the artist. The work is matted in a wide black museum board and framed in a gloss black metal box frame, as shown, and is ready to hang.
De La Cruz has been a full-time professional fine artist since 1975. He was the subject of a museum-wide retrospective at Denver's Museo de las Americas in 2015-2016. He is listed among the three dozen most influential regional artists of the twentieth century in a Denver Post survey of regional curators and proved the bestselling artist at the first International Latino Art Auction in Phoenix, AZ. The Denver Art Museum's first purchase of a living Hispanic's work for its permanent collection was a De La Cruz. Years later, he was the only artist considered when that same museum wanted to commission a major, contemporary digital work commemorating the opening of its new Libeskind Building. De La Cruz was the recipient of back-to-back artist-in-residency grants from Colorado in his early career and received as well their very last painting fellowship. Other honors include award of Best Art Event of the Year by Westword Magazine and appointment to Denver’s Commission on Arts and Culture. For further information, please see the artist’s extensive website.

Materials used:

Acrylic & mixed media on mounted gelatin silver print collage

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