Luis Cruz Azaceta

Luis Cruz Azaceta was born in Cuba but immigrated to the United States at the age of eighteen and lived in New York City. The city’s main hub of transportation became the focus of his Subway series created between 1973 to 1975.  In The Jungle (La Jungla), Azaceta evokes a “subway-as-jungle” motif, depicting graphic scenes of sexuality and bestiary violence in vibrant, neon colors as passengers sit in the subway cars, disengaged from the cruelty around them.  Luis Cruz Azaceta’s style and content have varied throughout his career, but his message remains the same. His work encourages the viewer to confront issues such as racism, oppression, and isolation, with the hopes that visual exposure can create compassion among humanity.

Title: The Jungle (La Jungla)
Artist: Luis Cruz Azaceta (b. 1942)
Date: 1975
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Left Panel: Image 78 ¼ x 54 ¼ inches (Framed 79 ¼ x 55 ¼ inches); Central Panel: Image 54 ¼ x 78 ¼ inches (Framed 77 x 99 inches); Right Panel: Image 78 ¼ x 54 ¼ inches (Framed 79 ¼ x 55 ¼ inches)
Accession Number: H77.2.1, H77.2.2, H77.2.3

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