FESTIVAL ARTISTS

City of Gainesville
Cultural Affairs
302 NE 6th Avenue
(352)393-8536
(352)334-2249-Fax

Mailing address: Station 30
PO Box 490
Gainesville, FL 32602

The 29th Annual Downtown Festival & Art Show is proud to present this year’s poster artist, Hugo Cruz.  The featured artwork, “The Clock Tower,” showcases his use of infrared photography to reveal new perspectives of the familiar world around us.  As Hugo attests, “I fell in love with infrared photography primarily because of its ability to expose the ethereal and invisible universe of the infrared spectrum.  It is equivalent to having a new sense … an enhanced vision that manifests the hidden beauty of common subjects that we may have taken for granted.”  His unconventional artistry presents a vivid, new take on Gainesville’s downtown Clock Tower, an iconic structure that is rich in history and grace.

Hugo Cruz, a Gainesville resident, graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts.  After graduating, he had a successful career as a graphic artist, designer and publisher, but his passion was always creating unique art in different mediums.  As a self-taught artist with an avid affinity to learn new techniques, he recently decided to dedicate himself to art full time.  Cruz’s current focus is in three distinct and captivating mediums: infrared photography, metal art and acrylic painting.