Composed of layers of ink, paint, and wax pencil, David Antonio Cruz’s drawings from his Icutfromtehmiddletogetabetterslice (2021-present) series honor the individuals of his “chosen family”—the love and bonds created between queer individuals as a form of survival and kinship. Cruz began these works in 2020, during the pandemic, as part of his contemplation of the loss of individuals and how we, as a society, honor our family and ancestors. Curator and art historian Dr. Susanna V. Temkin described the works from this series, a decadent display and analysis of familial bonds and queer relationships, as borrowing from the Dutch group portraiture tradition known as regentessenstuk.

Icutfromtehmiddletogetabetterslice includes a set of larger-scale paintings that pull the viewer into a dazzling space of lush patterns and bright color palettes. In Cruz's dark grayscale drawings from this series, however, his compositions and landscapes establish an intimate and meditative space that, while almost haunting, is beautiful to behold. Silhouettes of flora and organic forms from specific geographic locations across the US compose one layer of his work. Particular plants signify the sites where his chosen family lives, while the lighter motifs are formed from childhood memories. Cruz also uses the ceiba, a tree indigenous to Mexico, the Caribbean, and West Africa, as a grounding motif to signify his chosen family's strong, deep roots. He views these drawings as a moment of meditation or as a slower reading of his lush paintings—almost as if they were two sides of an LP or record. The works speak the same language but with a different resonance and tune, compelling the viewer to engage more deeply. 

Slow and intentional engagement is a critical part of Cruz’s practice, as the artist wants the viewer to meditatively engage with each work and reconsider the realities and contexts in which bodies are interpreted. Even within his drawings, moments of negative space create a pause, a glitch, or an in-between space where alternate modes of reality exist and flourish. Individual bodies and faces begin to emerge from the density of a lush forest and tangled vegetation of tree branches and leaves. Between these multiple layers, there is a collapse of organic forms, negative space, and bodily shapes that creates visual tension, making the viewer question and decipher the space in which the sitters exist. 

Artist texts by Marissa Del Toro