David Antonio Cruz

Brooklyn, New York

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About David Antonio Cruz

David Antonio Cruz is a New York-based artist. Cruz fuses painting and performance to explore the visibility and intersectionality of Brown, Black, and queer bodies. Cruz received a BFA in painting from Pratt Institute and an MFA from Yale University. He attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and completed the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum. Recent residencies include the LMCC Workspace Residency, Project For Empty Space’s Social Impact Residency, and BRICworkspace. Cruz’s work has been included in notable group exhibitions at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, El Museo del Barrio, BRIC, Performa 13, and the Bronx Museum of Art. His fellowships and awards include The Franklin Furnace Fund Award, The Urban Artist Initiative Award, the Queer Mentorship Fellowship, and the Neubauer Faculty Fellowship at Tufts University.

Program Participation

Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2018

Website / Social Links

I'm interested in interjecting the portraiture canon with Brown and Black bodies, as well as gender fluid and queer bodies, to complicate heteronormative perceptions of racial and queer identity and highlight intersectional identities not often discussed or represented in history and society.”