Jun Cruz

Bio

Jun Gueco Cruz was born in Angeles City, Philippines and is currently based in Philadelphia, PA. Cruz is a visual artist who seeks to portray the science of life through massive depictions of cellular processes and human anatomy. Cruz merges his spiritual walk with medical science into biomorphic forms of expression in his art.⁣ He is influenced by his indigenous Kapampangan identity and seeks to express this through his art as he implements the cultural ideals of "planting seeds" and "bringing life out of the soil." This focus is perhaps best exemplified in his first solo exhibit in 1997, Tanatanaman, which paid homage to the act of planting correlating with the physiology of life.The shooting spiky structures that characterized his works now also represent germinating seeds calling it biomorphic which literally means ‘life transformation.His 2017 Imperishable Seed series clearly reflect this.Ultimately, he seeks to show the spirituality of humanity as it displays itself in scientific realities.⁣ Cruz’s work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, GSIS Museum, Florence Biennale, Italy and Artbox Project,New York.His latest solo exhibition, Elioenai (Toward God are Mine Eyes) - Speaks about his personal journey inspired by his own experience seeing things like an EKG tracing the electrical activity of the human heart beating all day, every day. A process that usually go unseen.Through crafting art that represents biomorphic forms, he intended to convey his message as we fix our eyes on Him and keeping our focus on God’s perfect will and purpose. He has earned several national and international prestigious awards, including the Michelangelo International Prize in Rome in July 2019 and most recently, the CFA Award of Excellence at Spectrum Brooklyn with World Wide Art 2021 and GOLD LIST Award,Top Contemporary Artists of Today(Art Market International Art Magazine) 2021. He is also part of the Pampanga Arts Guild, Christians In the Visual Arts(CIVA), and Circle Foundation for the Arts.