‘For some people, what they are is not finished at the skin, but continues with the reach of the senses out into the land. [...] Such people are attached to the land as if by luminous fibers, and they live in a kind of time that is not of the moment but, in concert with memory, extensive, measured by a lifetime.’ - Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams

This special event is to celebrate Cruz's new studio, with a show of recent paintings – an extension, if you like, of his last exhibition which lockdown cruelly ended early, like so many others.

Cruz's work is deeply personal and intentionally blurs the lines between this world and what might lie beyond. That translating, that half-woken diligence, is still what drives him.

As Amy Stewart so eloquently wrote in her last essay on his work, "Jimenez’s clear sense of painting as the most honest expression he has makes these works a gift. They are emotional breadcrumbs from a painter drowning in memories. So much of viewing a painting is about how something feels, which is why Jimenez’s heightened senses, nimble hand and judicious eye are so valuable. Behind the doors of his studio he decodes fear, disquiet, awkwardness and vulnerability, disassembles them all into their composite emotional parts, and restates them as lyrical visual concertos with a hint of swagger that surprise, vex and soothe. Now more than ever Jimenez is an artist not confined or defined, delighting in the out-of-focus and the off-kilter.

We invite you to explore this beautiful work in Cruz's new studio (which is a work of art in itself too!)

–Scott Lawrie, Director