Cruz Ortiz: Interview

I recently returned from the San Juan Trienal de Poli/Graphica in San Juan Puerto Rico. While there I had the chance to meet with and interview several artists about the work they exhibited at the Trienal.

Cruz Ortiz is from San Antonio, Texas. Along with Juan Miguel Ramos, also from San Anto, that corner of the Lone Star State is well represented for the 2004 Trienal. Cruz is an informal guy and his art reflects that. HIs artwork is direct and honest, just like the man.

Perry: How is narrative space built into your work (i.e. story, history, character, past, present or future)?

Cruz: Well, I used to think in terms of making art works that are completely separate and unconnected. But when I started doing prints and multiples that changed a lot. I began to see them in relation to a larger whole. Which in turn started me thinking about narrative, about having a beginning, middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order. I wanted to create a sense of disorientation so that led me to look for ways that I could chop the narrative and defeat anyone’s attempt to find a firm sense of order or meaning. With this in mind, I started to do a lot of performance where I would work the redirection of the masses. Like the Free Raspas project.

Perry: What is the Free Raspas project?

Cruz: I printed images of myself looking sketchy with the words Free Raspas on them and that was all. I printed them on brown cardboard because that was the look I was after. Then I would post them up around San Antonio. People wanted to know “Who is Raspas?” or “Where can I get some free Raspas?”
I have also done things like Free Tacos. It connects people by getting them to look for direction but its fake. The narrative space in my work is about taking control of peoples’ bodies. When you are dealing with installation you are taking control of peoples bodies too. It’s a way to make people pay attention to your work. That’s a hard thing for people to do in our society…pay attention. Therefore video started making more sense to me. I see video as projected multiple prints. Although in my next work I will be getting out of that space and getting mobile…whether it is guerilla style or whatever…for instance I am researching flea markets. At the ones in Texas you can buy a casket and a head stone, you can buy a house up on bricks…we’re talking AK-47s and everything! It’s a black market. Flea markets are a byproduct of capitalism and they are sustenance for working class people.

How do you describe the use of non-objective space in your work (i.e. balance, visual weight, emphasis, composition, etc)?
Ever since I started doing work I have had a hard time with formal issues. Someone told me that Robert Rauschenberg was from Texas and that made total sense to me. Like that goat inside the tire? I see stuff like that all the time in Texas. I deal with that. That’s why I use Christmas lights in my installations. Those are another feature of Texas bars and working class spaces. When I use a space, I approach it like I am the owner of a bar. Could I drink a nice cold beer here and enjoy it? I have noticed there is no rhyme or reason to how people hang Christmas lights. Nothing like a thought-out design. You just stretch ‘em out and plug ‘em in and then you are done! There’s a real working class bar in San Antonio and there was just this one string of lights that ran across the bar in the most random way. I saw it and I went, “What was that?” So I try and deal with that directness in my work. I don’t like things to look too balanced.

What annoys you most about art?
I am not a big fan of art on the walls. Gallery clean type stuff…that’s why I try to stay grounded by doing public interventions. I hate it when art becomes not about communications…when it becomes a commodity. We have to be really careful especially now because cultures are being commoditized and that’s not a good thing. I have kids and I always think about that. When Sponge Bob starts talking about what he’s going to buy at the store that is something that can only be related to on a consumer level. I am not saying it’s just cartoons, it’s everything.‡