Blind self portrait misspelling my own name to an office employee, regretting not finding a good pretext for lack-of-time organization to read Frans de Waal’s ‘The last interview’, while listening to ‘Unpretty’, by TLC, running to ‘Aux Bones Crus’ for a Summer pot-au-feu, believing this is not over, and that very soon, we’ll be confined again, but hoping in my heart that this won't happen…
Abraham Cruzvillegas
2020
Acrylic paint on paper, 272 pieces
Variable dimensions
Winsing Arts Collection

Blind self portrait misspelling my own name to an office employee, regretting not finding a good pretext for lack-of-time organization to read Frans de Waal’s ‘The last interview’, while listening to ‘Unpretty’, by TLC, running to ‘Aux Bones Crus’ for a Summer pot-au-feu, believing this is not over, and that very soon, we’ll be confined again, but hoping in my heart that this won't happen…
Abraham Cruzvillegas
2020
Acrylic paint on paper, 272 pieces
Variable dimensions
Winsing Arts Collection
Often arranged in grid-like squares, the works in this series represent chaotic patterns of growth, similar to an overhead view of a city or a patchwork of industrialized farmland. They are made up of paper objects collected by Cruzvillegas in specific locations: napkins, envelopes, images, newspaper and magazine articles, receipts, and so on. The word "portrait" in the title of this series signifies the artist's own experience, depicting his life at a certain time. The artist once said, "The most important thing for me is to make work independent of my biography; even when the prime matter of it is my own experience, thoughts, and practice. It must be autonomous and free." which is representative of the notion of "masking." His works are often painted in a single color or alternately in two colors.
Cruzvillegas specializes in transforming messages into objects and using paint as a method to engage the viewer in constructing possible meanings. The titles of the pieces in this series describe Cruzvillegas' state of being and daily activities at the moment of creation, in some cases referring to specific political or historical moments, or to current events occurring or music pieces composed at the same time as the creation of the work.
