This is a unique hand pulled screen print created in the studio of Cruz Ortiz, located in an old train station in South San Antonio which is in the vicinity of two Spanish Colonial Missions and the San Antonio River. This print was a collaboration between Cruz, his partner Olivia, and their son Joaquin. The process included making multiple positives to create the stencils using black gouache and tracing paper, a technique Cruz learned in the early 1990’s from David Mercado Gonzales, a Vanguard Chicano Printmaster from the Westside of San Antonio. “Blood Red Luna” was made using 5 different screen printing stencils, each printed one layer at a time. Each of the colors was matched using samples from Cruz’s paintings which were selected by Olivia. Together with Olivia and Joaquin they mixed all the colors to make sure every color was thoroughly aligned with Cruz’s specific color palette. This limited print run of 20 prints are all signed and numbered. This print highlights some of the bold graphic hand-made mark makings that Cruz is known for, using strong angled shapes, high contrast colors, and cosmico portraiture. The subject matter revolves around a star crossed lover vaquero character who is mesmerized by the celestial phenomenon of a rare Blood Red Moon over a West Texas sky. Many of Cruz’s artworks are known to be autobiographical, using the tradition of self-portraiture to build an ongoing romantic narrative of his experience living in Texas.

18” x 24”

edition of 20