Emilio Cruz, 66, painter of abstract expressionism

December 16, 2004|Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Emilio Cruz, an artist known for his mixture of human figures and animal and natural history imagery, died of pancreatic cancer on Friday, said his wife, Patricia. He was 66.

He was linked with such Abstract Expressionist painters as Lester Johnson, Bob Thompson, and Jan Muller, and his paintings often illustrated the darker side of human existence.

Born in 1938, Mr. Cruz studied at the Art Students League and the New School for Social Research in New York; the University of Louisville, and the Seong Moy School of Painting and Graphics in Provincetown, Mass.

He began his career in the early 1960s with local exhibitions. During the 1970s, he taught at the Art Institute of Chicago.

At the time of his death, Mr. Cruz was an assistant professor at Pratt Institute and New York University.

In 1981, two plays that Mr. Cruz wrote were produced, "Homeostasis: Once More the Scorpion" and "The Absence Held Fast to Its Presence." Both were held at the Open Eye Theater in Manhattan and became part of the World Theater Festival in Europe.