These sculptures employ religious and humanist aesthetics to create two altars: one for projection and one for reflection. The choice of form and materials are inspired by conversations surrounding the impact of technological advances on individuation.
A PERSONAL NOTE
After my MS diagnosis, I immediately began mourning my future in the face of how MRI scans appeared to redefine me. Would I be minimized to a binary technological interpretation or take control of the definition? In response, I created tools for considering time, change, and the impracticality of idealization. Those tools took the shape of a playable record of MRI machine noise lathed onto one of my scans and trapped within 21 layers of acrylic sitting atop a pedestal crafted to ideal greek proportions.
Digital 18:05:80 is an interpretation of seminal post-punk singer and lyricist Ian Curtis of Joy Division. It portrays Curtis' face entranced and emerging from a 9.70" x 6" x 1.75" matte white cold-cast porcelain solid in the proportions of the golden mean. It is the second in the Musical Muses Series and the follow-up to Half a Person: A Morrissey Effigy.
Concept, design, hand-casting, and finishing by Derrick Cruz. Sculpture by Sean Burford
Inspired by the alarming mass disappearance of honeybees, The Abandoned Comb Amulet is a Solomonic dilemma: violently shatter and consume the object to remove its inner worth or nurture the form and allow it to reveal the treasure within naturally.
MATERIALS
The Abandoned Comb Amulet is a six hexagon 18k gold honeycomb pendant on a gold chain encapsulated in a three-inch tall hexagonal sugar-glass pyramid filled with New York rooftop honey. It is presented and preserved in an airtight glass bell-jar and rubber base—edition of 30.
PROCESS
It begins with a visit to a local rooftop beehive in Brooklyn, New York. There, I gathered an abandoned wax honeycomb that had suffered from Colony Collapse. I coated the wax with natural shellacs in preparation for traditional “lost wax” casting. The wax honeycomb is completely burned away during casting and replaced with gold. The result is a perfect 18k gold replica of the found honeycomb.
I then reduced the casting into arrangements of six hexagons. Each cluster is assembled onto a gold chain with a handcrafted clasp, disinfected, and sealed by hand in a honey-filled cast sugar pyramid.
A special thank you to The Brooklyn Bee, PapaBubble Caramels Artesans, Susanne Goetz, and Austin Priebe. Still photography by Gisel Florez, black and white photo by Nadav Benjamin.
"If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees." – Kahlil Gibran
The box is designed to preserve the precious and conceal the priceless.
Approximately 12.5" x 9" x 3.5"
Hand-oiled and "ebonized" American Maple
Spine engraving inlaid in weathered brass
Brass and vintage piano ivory inlays on cover and keyhole
Cover illustration “As Night Overtakes Day”
Interior tray contains six drawstring linen bags
Sliding hidden drawer drawer is 1" deep with a hinged top and 22k gold gilding
Includes "Sun Key" pendant on natural waxed cord
Man & Viper aims to challenge contemporary views of vise and prodigiousness shrouded in our consensual idea of luxury.
THE GOLDEN JAW
The Golden Jaw is a direct casting of a decaying human jaw with sculptural additions. Cigarettes fit neatly between teeth and cigars behind molars or across mandibular notches. Edition of 100.
MATERIALS
24k Gold Over Solid Bronze
Natural Black Diamond
5″ × 4 1/4″ × 2 1/2"
Signed and Numbered by Derrick Cruz
Custom “Black Wood” Box
THE GOLDEN COTTONMOUTH
The Cottonmouth is an unusual scarf adornment and detailed sculpture of a viper modeled from memory. Edition of 100.
24k gold over solid bronze
2.25″ × 1.5″ × 1.5″
Each is marked with the artist’s initials
Concept
Identity
Curation
Set Design
Event Organization
A New Hive is an effort to help save the indispensable honeybee. These images document an group art installation and event that took place in the Meatpacking District of New York City. Every work in the exhibition was the result of thorough collaboration with artists and New York beekeepers geared to reflect one alarming vision — a future without pollinators.
10% of all proceeds from A New Hive supported sustainable beekeeping practices and the up-keep of hives founded by The New York Beekeeping Meetup and The Brooklyn Bee. To get involved or to learn more about beekeeping visit http://www.nycbeekeeping.com/
Machine assisted hive-mind collage
12 x 12 inch archival Giclée print mounted on aluminum
Edition of 20 signed and numbered “Derrick Cruz, XX/20”
Concept, Art Direction, Jewelry Design, Staffing, Copy, Graphic Design
Theft of Light was inspired by our inherent need for family. Circumstantially denied this hopeful propensity, some brave all odds to seek a tribe. Yet, "all things permissible are not always expedient". Some tribes help us thrive, while others encourage us to revel indignantly towards self-destruction. Courage, sincerity, and hope inform the outcome. Dedicated to "Jun" Cruz (1951-2009).
Art Direction - Derrick Cruz, Photography - Nadav Benjamin, Stylist - Sarah McCormack, Assistant - Christine Samar
Concept, Curation, Installation, Graphic Design, Copy, Event Organization, Sales, Marketing
New York City Artist Collective OCCULTER Presents BLACK BEACH at White Box
White Box is pleased to kick-off its Beach Box Series with “Black Beach”, the first group exhibition by New York City artist collective OCCULTER.
Five OCCULTER artists will be featured in “Black Beach”: Nadav Benjamin; Jeremy Dyer; Derrick Cruz; Jonathan Goldstein; and Gabriel J. Shuldiner. Each artist will present large format works spanning the scope of digital constructions, mixed-media paintings, sculpture and site-specific installations. Smaller works will be presented as a “Consumables Shop” at the White Box-Universal Ltd. Editions Cafe.
In “Black Beach”, OCCULTER members introduce a collection of tenebrous works as a call to worship at the feet of new mythologies still in flux. As symbolists in expectation of an uncertain future, each artist attempts to interpret consciousness or the incorporeal, with history (aesthetic, religious, political or otherwise) as a tool, not a guide.
The installation as a whole evokes a self-reflective spirituality that longs for a community as it shuns it. Contrasting the contemplative allusions in the artwork, on opening and closing nights “Black Beach” will transition from a space of observation to one of participation, as a set of energetic musical performances curated by Todd Pendu of Pendu NYC fill White Box.
A graphic t-shirt series commemorating philosophical predictions.
Concept, Art Direction, Accessory and Prop Design - Derrick Cruz; Producer - Chris Reed, Photographer - Joel W. Henderson, Stylist - Alison Isabell; Hair & Make Up - Claudia Lake; Assistants - Barbie Edmondson, Sanae Ueyoshi
Who sang the songs that saved your life? The answer to this question is certainly not universal. Yet, for the droves of outliers who braved the plight of adolescence with a ragged "Queen is Dead" T-Shirt on their backs and a melting Walkman in hand, one ambivalent troubadour, stands heroic.
Our ears perked up at his brave and fiery moans. His brainy frankness gave us the courage to flaunt our awkwardness with wild abandon. He wrote our battle hymns, and we proudly took up spectacles and paperbacks for arms against the world with him. For the clumsy and shy finally had a champion, and as the records spun on, we listened to his croons assured it was sufficient to be Half a Person.
Half a Person is a heroic idealization. Chest exposed, coy grin, and coiffed to perfection; its only vulnerabilities are a band-aid covered nipple and a cotton wick.
Half a Person: Morrissey is the first in Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons Musical Muses Series.
Edition of 300
9.1 inches tall
100% hand-cast beeswax, 1.25 lb.
100% cotton wick
Concept, design, hand-casting and finishing by Derrick Cruz
Sculpture by Sean Burford
BEESWAX
Beeswax is the only truly healthy and sustainable material that may be burned with a wick. It is a honeybee by-product, and its extraction does not harm the colonies from which it is sourced. Burning beeswax puts out negative ions, which consequently clean the air we breathe. It is smokeless, peculiarly long burning, and naturally smells like honey.
Small scale sculptures created for Occulter's Oliphaunt art subscription experiment. Abstraction of Joseph Beuys' America Likes Me performance. Concrete, iron, cassette recording, hay, sumi dyed cotton
Mixed media on board
The New York Times commissioned me to recreate their iconic Style Magazine "T" in whatever materials I was working with at the time. The result was this 18k gold and sugar glass three dimensional "T."
Animal Viewer is a pendant intending to preserve the noble memory of a worker honeybee. Sterling, seven 160x Stanhope lenses with dissected honeybee parts. The honeybee was found dead in the same hive used for the Abandoned Comb.
Robert Smith will forever be the frolicking ghoul that excused my brooding dance.
I remember the calling drums and visceral chants of songs like Hanging Garden moving me to teen introspection. The Cure's punk grit and mystical arabesques masterfully set the stage for Smith's desperate vocals to entrance me. Enveloped in flanging echos, I ritually pushed the volume to its limits.
But just when darkness seemed paramount and spiderman was free to have me for dinner, Smith showed some hope. I was free to accept my inner gloom as a tool and not an end in itself. Which encouraged my pimply-teen self to see that sanctioned cool was not my path and that flailing my hands around while tripping over myself was as worthy a form of self-expression as any.
Thanks, Mr. Smith. I owe you one.
My goal was to capture Smith in his youthful Pornography era. The Cure fans so fervently sought to emulate all of the details needed to be there: black button-ups, tight black jeans, and contrast hi-tops. But perhaps most importantly, his playful spirit had to be caricatured to make one message clear: doom and gloom had a secret smirk, and Robert Smith was the archetype.
As an artist and designer, I sculpt, but human likenesses aren't my thing. So, to find the true soul of the project, I needed to collaborate with a sculptor that shared my affinity towards Smith. As I gathered source material, sketching poses, and researching the perfect sneakers, I remembered the work of John Truman Tan. John's uncanny ability to capture a spirit made me an instant collector of his pieces a few years back. Not only does he sculpt accurate likenesses, but he has a rare sensibility for representing minute garments and tailoring details. John also likes to make bobbleheads. It was the perfect medium for Smith.
Without hesitation, I reached out to John, found out we shared a love for all things 80's, sent him my drawings, design ideas, and research, and Unhappy the Man: Robert Smith was born.
Named after the prehistoric giants, the Mammoth Razor is a masterfully restored vintage blade, Alaskan Woolly Mammoth ivory sheath, sterling silver hardware, and a quartz Stanhope lens containing vintage micro-photography.
THE BLADE
Regarding the exacting craft of years past, only vintage steel blades are used to produce the Mammoth Razor. Each blade is carefully chosen for its condition, quality, and manufacturer's reputation. Each edge is then restored and made shave-ready with exacting precision.
THE MAMMOTH SHEATH
The blade sheath of "scales" is hand-carved out of woolly mammoth ivory to suit its corresponding blade. The scales are secured with Australian sterling silver pins for strength and luxurious touch.
CUSTOMIZATION
Each razor can be personalized with a custom image in the Stanhope lens and the addition of Scrimshaw engravings on the sheath.
THE STANHOPE LENS
Hidden within the stabilizing "plug" of the Mammoth Razor lies the historically rich Stanhope lens. Designed by the third Earl of Stanhope in the 1700s, each quartz Stanhope is a biconvex lens measuring 2-3 millimeters in diameter with a 160x magnifying power. Initially a field microscope for naturalists, its applications were broadened in the 1860s by the Parisian inventor of the micro-photograph, Rene Dagron. Thanks to Dragon, the Stanhope became a personal window to the infinite imagery that could be captured with photography. Its uses subsequently ranged from a way to smuggle essential documents during wartime to a means of "safekeeping" personal erotic photos.
The 1970s saw the end of the Stanhope production with its last production facility in Czechoslovakia. However, in 1993, renowned violinmaker Michael Sheibley of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was introduced to an antique "picture bow" containing a Stanhope. Awed by its clarity and uniqueness, he immediately decided to revive the tradition. Today, even collectors find it difficult to discern Sheibley's perfectly crafted Stanhope lenses from the originals.
Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons continue this meticulous tradition by gracing the Mammoth Razor with Mr. Sheibley's highly collectible Stanhopes. Like Dagron offered over 100 years ago, Stanhopes may be customized with any fitting image or object.
PACKAGING
The Mammoth Razor comes in a handsome laser engraved salvaged solid-wood case and black linen drawstring sleeve. Included is a quarter ounce of Renaissance Wax, to be applied when the mammoth needs a protective coating and a polished shine.
