3/17 @ 6pm: David Antonio Cruz: black/backroom

David Antonio Cruz’s black/backroom at PES Futures considers future-making through the lens of both personal and collective historical precedence. As part of a continuation of Cruz’s unveiling of Queer-Brown-Histories, the artist shapes potentialities through intersecting themes of loss, desire, and the legacy of Cruz's grandparents' land- Puerto Rico.

The immersive exhibition, which was created for the intimate Chinatown gallery, draws on various aspects of Cruz’s interdisciplinary practice in a beautifully maximalist manner. Viewers are enveloped in a detailed wallpaper that features ghostly layered images flora from important geographies in the artist's life- Philadelphia, Puerto Rico, and New York. These hidden histories and vignettes lead to a surprise element tucked in the back of the space, inviting viewers to rest and recline. The installation crescendos around a cacophony of chandeliers, a relatively new symbolic element in Cruz’s lexicon, reflecting abundance, decadence, and splendor. Embedded within the chandeliers are small sculptural objects that symbolize intimate narratives.

These chandeliers have evolved from Cruz’s candelabras, some of which were originally shown during the artist's first exhibition at Project for Empty Space in 2016. A new series of candelabras, which were created for PES’s fifteenth anniversary, accompanies this exhibition.

black/backroom is a symbolic homecoming of sorts for the artist. Cruz, who now serves on the Project for Empty Space Board of Directors, was an inaugural PES Artist in Residence from 2015 - 2017. The exhibition at PES Futures is a full circle moment for the artist and Co-Directors/Curators to create a show that looks towards an abundant future.

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About the Artist
David Antonio Cruz (b.1974, Philadelphia, PA) received his BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute and his MFA from Yale University. He attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and completed the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum, New York. Recent residencies and fellowships include the Joan Mitchell Artist in Residency (2025); Skowhegan Alumni Residency, Maine (2021); LMCC Workspace Residency, New York (2015); Gateway Project Spaces, Newark, NJ (2016); BRIC Workspace Residency, Brooklyn (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Award (2018), and Mass Cultural Council's Artist Fellowships (2022). Cruz's work has been included in notable exhibitions at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C (2014/2021); El Museo del Barrio, New York (2006/2016); the Ford Foundation, New York (2019); the Brooklyn Museum (2019); McNay Art Museum, San Antonio (2019), and the Kemper Art Museum (2021/2022. Cruz's work was recently on view in When The Children Come Home: a solo exhibition at ICA Philadelphia (2023), A Place For Me: Figurative Painting Now, ICA Boston (2022), The Block Museum at Northwestern (2022), DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum for the New England Triennial (2022), Museum of the African Diaspora (2022), and the Zuckerman Museum of Art (2023).

David Antonio Cruz lives and works in New York City. He is a Board Member at Project for Empty Space.

About PES FUTURES
Launched in 2024, PES FUTURES is a satellite initiative of Project for Empty Space located at 128 Baxter Street in Manhattan’s historic Chinatown. Expanding PES’s mission, PES FUTURES is both a physical and conceptual space dedicated to exploring intersecting and imagined possibilities.

As an incubator for unbridled imagination, it hosts special projects and exhibitions, creating space for artists—especially those historically marginalized—to claim and reclaim visibility, authorship, and presence.

PES’s broader work encompasses exhibitions, public art, residencies, subsidized studios, and professional development programs, all centered on uplifting narratives that have been erased or marginalized. PES FUTURES carries this ethos forward, supporting socially engaged artists while holding space for reflection and the creation of bold new futures.

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Host or Publisher Project For Empty Space