Cruz Control
Aloes in Wonderland by Michael Haber
For his residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara, San Antonio artist CRUZ ORTIZ used plein air and portrait painting to document social history in and around Santa Barbara. He painted at Leadbetter Beach, the Douglas Family Preserve, and a spectacular private garden of succulents, aloes, and cacti on the Riviera that became one of his key subjects.
“I often think about painting in the Barbie [Santa Barbara]—especially when I’m painting in plein air,” he says. “The first thing I noticed was how clean and blue the light is there. Painting here in Tejas, there’s a yellow pinkish light that hangs in the air into evenings. But in Santa Barbara it’s a super clear, even light throughout the day—even as the paint lies out on the canvas, the colors seemed not to have to work as much in producing the hues.”
“In Santa Barbara it’s a super clear, even light throughout the day.”
Through this residency, Ortiz continued his practice of honoring important figures in social justice and the places they inhabit, translating local beaches, preserves, and private gardens into vividly observed scenes that link personal experience, landscape, and broader social narrative. T.M.
