Artwork description:

This is an oil painting on a mounted collage of gelatin silver print photographs by American artist Jerry De La Cruz (b 1948, Denver, CO). The work is a horizontal format, 8.25” high by 17.25” wide. The matted size is 14.75” high by 22.5” wide.
The subject is a triptych of figurative images, a full length semi-nude female figure on the left, a hip-high profile view of another clothed woman on the right, both looking toward the center. There a third female passes in front of a group of uniformed men in apparent boredom waving a small American flag and wearing dangle earrings and brightly rimmed sunglasses. Over this collage are scribbled brushstrokes, a self frame plus patches of textured color.
The palette begins with the gray tones of the original photos with blues and reds, some sunny yellow and metallic gold. The work is titled “Patriot in Distress #2.” It is in pristine condition, signed front lower right by the artist, and is matted in black mat museum board, ready to frame.
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:

oil & mixed media on mounted gelatin silver print collage

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