The
following is a dialogue I had with Syracuse-based painter, sculptor and
artist Juan Cruz, hailed by critics as the Puerto Rican Picasso.
His work, which includes ceramics, paint, iron, wood and recycled
materials, explores issues of political repression as well as spiritual and
religious themes that connect the dots of the Afro-Latino Diaspora.
We
met a few days before he was to give his farewell to Syracuse show (a
retrospective) at his
gallery on Townsend Street. He was in the middle of organizing the show and
took a break to talk with us about his work and his life.
These are his words.
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People have always
been my inspiration; people and things that are going on around me. I
started experimenting with pen and ink, colored pencils, then watercolors
and oil paints, acrylics and eventually ceramics and welding. I thought an
artist had to know all these things. I learned everything. When I was a
kid, I used to draw everything. I didn’t know what an artist was, I just
drew. I didn’t know I needed a title.
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