The object of destruction

… this notion of “destruction as creation” however is also very pertinent to the work of Angela de la Cruz, for it is through the quite literal act of destruction that a new language of painting is created and with that, the subsequent reinvention of painting. Her paintings have the appearance of having been violently attacked and physically abused. Hanging in her studio, they almost appear to result from her studio having been broken into and the infiltrators, out of frustration from not finding anything seemingly of value, deciding to destroy the paintings. Strechers are broken, surfaces of paintings slashed and booted through and canvases ripped off their strechers, in some cases, completely torn off. But the fact is that it is de la Cruz herself who has inflicted the violence and damage to her paintings, the remnants of which she is justifiably proud of, displaying them on the wall like trophies …