Artist Statement
I stopped buying cereal and juice because just like most things that I need to live, they went up in price. My doctor said I should cut down on my sugar consumption or else I am going to get diabetes, but I still can't help eating chocolate or ice cream. God help me if I get diabetes because my health insurance keeps going up and they don't always pay the full cost like when I got a gall bladder surgery or when I got an ultrasound. I feel like most companies are scamming me or trying to find a way to scam me. I got solar panels and my electric bill went down, but now the electric company wants to implement a system so they can charge me more.
Andy Warhol painted objects like soup cans and coca cola bottles and I did not get it for a long time even though I sat in a lecture hall where it was explained to me by an art history professor. I thought it was baloney, but now I think they are sort of like still lifes, but not as aesthetically pleasing or decorative as Cezanne or Velasquez. I started using printed materials like supermarket ads because they relate to consumption and I kept getting them in the mail. I like the juxtaposition of printed material with hand drawn or painted elements like Roman statues which I think are beautiful but are also a symbol of an empire that went into decline and eventually fell apart.
Orlando Montenegro-Cruz is an artist whose work centers on drawing and painting. Born in Managua, Nicaragua in 1982, he immigrated to Las Vegas in 1989 and later earned a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a master of fine arts from the University of Arizona. He received an Artist Fellowship grant from the Nevada Arts Council in 2013. Montenegro Cruz has presented solo exhibitions at Left of Center Gallery, Winchester Cultural Center, and the College of Southern Nevada’s Fine Arts Gallery, with additional group exhibitions at the Arts Factory, UNLV venues and First Friday’s Get Back Alley.
On exhibit at Enterprise Library from November 10, 2026 through January 19, 2027
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