Life stories
Painter Cruz Jimenez brings sizeable skill to his large-scale abstract paintings depicting journeys past and present.
IN A SEA OF NONDESCRIPT
warehouses, the industrial shell of Cruz Jimenez’s West Auckland studio belies the dynamic storytelling evolving within. Although he’s occupied the space for just three months (alongside a photographer and a collage artist), evidence of Cruz’s prolific output is already splattered on the walls. And despite having recently opened a show at Sanderson Contemporary gallery, a fresh row of canvases suggests he’s already cracking on with his next project.
Born and raised in the US, Cruz came to New Zealand in 2001 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Southern California, and now calls Auckland home. Travelling back to California to visit family is an annual pilgrimage though, and one he often draws on for the memories depicted in his abstract paintings.
“I take at least two sketchbooks with me everywhere I travel – one for drawing and another for writing – plus a bunch of pencils and a couple of catalogues of my work, just in case I see a gallery or space I’d like to exhibit in,” he says. Back in the studio reviewing his journals, a theme for a body of work will emerge. “I’ll start writing down ideas, quick little poems and silly stories before moving onto larger-scale ink sketches, and from there I go for it with the paint. Usually somewhere in the middle, a title will come up relating to what I’m feeling; they always seem to be very poetic, or tell a story about a specific event from my childhood.” •
Although his own experiences are often the catalyst for the tales Cruz tells in his paintings, the process of applying paint to a surface plays a significant role in the development of the finished artworks too. With up to 20 hours a week spent in the studio, producing a series can take Cruz anywhere from eight to 14 months. Moving back and forth across multiple canvases at once, he builds a narrative layer by layer, some thin and transparent, others thick and textural. Figurative symbols referencing nature are hidden and revealed among other-worldly washes of paint.
“I’ll never forget a professor telling me that it’s very easy to hide mistakes and things you don’t understand in colour. I learn so much just using black and white – it helps my eye become more sensitive to tones when I progress into colour.”
As we discuss the development of his current series, the artist in action is revealed, as he contemplates the direction his new series of paintings will take. “Lately I’m preferring less layering – I like the cleanliness of the work when you can see my brushstrokes. In the past I’d build up more layers of oil and encaustic [hot wax], whereas here I’ve really held back to reveal more of the original process.”
And how does he determine when the finished pieces are resolved? “They just feel right to look at – they’re balanced and the colours are right. I don’t feel anxious when I look at them – I just know.”
“I learn so much just using black and white – it helps my eye become more sensitive to tones when I progress into colour.”