Angela De la Cruz

ANGELA DE LA CRUZ (La Coruña, 1965).
"Burst (White)". 2012
Acrylic and oil lacquer on aluminum.
Measurements: 63 x 60 x 32 cm.

In "Burst (White)" Ángela de la Cruz incorporates self-destruction to the creative process, and makes porous the classical distinctions between sculpture and two-dimensional abstraction. "Burst" is an emblematic work within her artistic practice, characterized by a radical approach to the classifications of the visual arts. The use of acrylic is a reference to the pictorial medium. The Galician artist explores physicality until it collapses, implodes, metaphorically speaking. The title, "Burst" (meaning "to burst" or "to burst"), suggests a pent-up energy that is finally released abruptly. This tension is evident in the deformations of the cubic form, in the gaping hole in the back of the aluminum, which also seems to allude to intense human emotions. Ángela de la Cruz herself stated for the Helga de Alvear Gallery, an entity with which she has been working since 2011, "The moment I cut a canvas or a support, I get rid of the grandiosity of the history of painting".

Ángela de la Cruz studied Philosophy and Letters at the University of Santiago de Compostela, although she soon moved to London, where she furthered her studies at Chelsea College of Art, Goldsmith College and the Slade School of Fine Arts. In 2010 she was the first Spaniard to be nominated for the Turner Prize, for her exhibition "After", which she presented at the Candem Center, and she is currently a lecturer at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, the city where she lives and works. In 2017 she received the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas.