Collection: Cruz Ortiz x Burnt Nopal

Cruz Ortiz, who lives and works in San Antonio, Texas, uses painting, print, sculpture, drawing, and public activation to address issues related to his experiences growing up in the bi-cultural landscape of South Texas.

Thoroughly grounded in the history of art, contemporary art practices, and social-political cultural movements Ortiz’s unique romantic visual language fuses classical icons with symbols of contemporary pop culture such as taco trucks and tire shop signs. He has engaged the public with interactive works such as wheat paste murals, communal art events, guerrilla AM radio broadcasts, and ephemeral street sculptures. His recent works include field research into the historical frameworks of easel oil painting and its relationship to documenting Texas landscapes while weaving in the regional language juxtapositions of Tex-Mex.

Cruz Ortiz has had solo exhibitions at: Artpace in San Antonio, Texas; the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, Texas; the University of Texas in Austin; and Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara, California. He has been invited to participate in many major international exhibitions and institutions such as: the Louvre in Paris, France; EV-A in Limerick, Ireland; the traveling exhibition Phantom Sightings with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the San Juan Triennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and at the Blue Coat Museum in Liverpool, England.

In 2013, Absolut Vodka asked to collaborate with him on designing Absolut Texas, a special limited edition that was created for the entire state of Texas. Currently he and his wife Olivia have just launched a new project that revolves around his love of hands-on printmaking and graphic design. Burnt Nopal is a creative factory that produces thoughtful design through contemporary Art.

Listen to a conversation with Cruz Ortiz on the Ojai Institute Podcast.

For more, please visit: www.cruzortizart.net and www.burntnopal.com

and follow: @cruzortizart and @burntnopal