Dylan Cruz, senior new media and animation major, shows off his mixed media
charcoal instillation titled “Nailed It,” which was part of the Spring 2015 Visual Art
and Design Student Exhibition. According to Cruz, this instillation is a self portrait
 that is part of a series of friends, and is “dealing with the gaze” and the idea of
“impermanence by being drawn onto the wall.” The Lion’s Roar / Elizabeth Brown
 

Variations of art often contain a deeper message than what is seen on the surface. Dylan Cruz, a senior new media and animation major, has explored the idea of impermanence through multiple pieces during his senior thesis exhibition. 

Cruz developed as an artist during his time at Southeastern, but discovered his love for art at a young age. Unlike most traditional families, he grew up with both his parents being artists, which helped him gain exposure to the art world. 

“I would travel from gallery to gallery. I was a little kid, and before I knew it was art, I was making things that just led me to where I am now. I take it to a very serious level, and I feel like art is my life,” said Cruz. 

Cruz has participated in multiple exhibitions, including the Spring 2015 Visual Art and Design Student Exhibition and a 2014-2015 Urban Sidewalk Installation that is part of the VESTIGES/TRINITAS at the P.3+ Exhibition. He also works as an exhibitions preparator for the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Part of being a senior art major includes participating in a thesis exhibition. For his thesis, titled “Mark of Impermanence,” he focused on the idea of the impermanence of life. He developed this idea over the previous three semesters with the thought of being born into a technological generation. 

“Our generation and every generation that has been born since has had the Internet, and has this idea of invulnerability and that everything will come to us,” said Cruz. 

Cruz developed his thesis, incorporating the ideas of disconnect and reincarnation. He believes “all things fade in time.” For the thesis exhibition artwork, he utilizes video performance and installation.

“While engaging in simple yet physically strenuous activities, I allude to the impermanence of life, and meditate on subject of mortality,” said Cruz. 

For this exhibition, Cruz created a video installation titled “Drawing in Negative Space,” a video projection titled “Earthbound” and a second video projection titled “Echoing Green.” For “Drawing in Negative Space,” he drew an expanding circle onto plexiglass then cut into the circle to clear the surface. 

“The endless cycle of creation and destruction engages the viewer and prompts them to walk around it, thereby mirroring the motion of the cycle,” said Cruz. 

In “Earthbound,” he is tied to a tree and walks around it continuously until he reaches the point of falling to the ground from exhaustion. 

“The perspective of the shot leads the viewer’s attention to the sand at the base of the tree capturing the layers of footprints, which are constantly renewed referencing the impermanence of one’s mark,” said Cruz. 

In “Echoing Green,” a multifaceted video, he is wearing white clothing and has his feet painted green while walking down a street in New Orleans. At the same time he is walking, sounds and layers of footage are also overlaid in the scene. 

“Though my feet are painted, they leave no footprints, which is a reference to the impermanence of one’s mark, similarly seen in ‘Earthbound,’” said Cruz. “The ambient sounds and visual wash of footage across the green sky convey an endless cycle of echoes in which time passes through the present.” 

Following the Senior Exhibition, Cruz will graduate in May. After graduation he plans to do more exhibitions and take some time off. He hopes to attend graduate school at the School of Visual Arts in New York. If accepted, he hopes to work in one of the school’s art galleries.