Angela de la Cruz
Trans­fer

In her first solo exhi­bi­tion in Aus­tralia since 2005, de la Cruz will exhib­it works which defy cat­e­gori­sa­tion: decon­struct­ed and re-con­fig­ured can­vas­es, found fur­ni­ture, and alu­mini­um forms whose pro­por­tions allude to the human body. Cor­rupt­ing the dis­tinc­tion between paint­ing and sculp­ture, the works in ​‘Trans­fer’, are at once objects and images. Some­times ele­gant, at oth­er times abject, de la Cruz pro­duces phys­i­cal­ly charged pieces that allude to intense emo­tion­al states: fear, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, sto­icism, even the com­ic. These anthro­po­mor­phic forms can be sug­ges­tive of the role of paint­ing in con­tem­po­rary art; or the role of the artist in society.

Influ­enced by the social and spa­cial envi­rons of the stu­dio and beyond, de la Cruz’s works con­vey acute obser­va­tion, and a keen sense of dark humour. Her prac­tice vis­cer­al­ly re-imag­ines the lega­cy of Male­vich and Ryman, twist­ing ideas of what abstract paint­ing can be today. The works pre­sent­ed in this exhi­bi­tion force­ful­ly fore­ground the body, both artist’s and view­er’s, in our expe­ri­ence of the paint­ed surface.

Angela de la Cruz was born in La Coruña, Spain. She moved to Lon­don to study in 1987, where she cur­rent­ly lives. In 2010, she was award­ed the Paul Ham­lyn Award, and was nom­i­nat­ed for the Turn­er Prize; and in 2011 she was award­ed the Gran Pre­mio AECA at ARCO, Madrid. De la Cruz’s work is held in sig­nif­i­cant pub­lic and pri­vate col­lec­tions internationally.

De la Cruz’s recent solo exhi­bi­tions include After, Cam­den Arts Cen­tre, Lon­don, 2011; and Work, Cul­turgest, Lis­bon, 2010. Her select­ed recent group exhi­bi­tions include the 2010 Turn­er Prize, Tate, Lon­don; Soft Sculp­ture, the Nation­al Gallery of Aus­tralia, Can­ber­ra; Altered States of Paint, Dundee Con­tem­po­rary Arts Cen­tre, Scot­land; Glob­al Fem­i­nisms, Brook­lyn Muse­um of Art, New York; and Man­i­fes­ta V, San Sebas­t­ian, Spain.