Benjamin “Ben” Cruz is a recipient of the 2015 UOB Painting of the Year (Established Artist Category) award. Born in 1954, Mr. Cruz is a multi-award-winning visual artist both in the Philippines and Singapore. He has a degree in advertising and pursued painting alongside a career in graphic design.

In his paintings, familiar landscapes morph into surreal worlds on canvas. The realistic-abstract painting techniques convey the distorted images of real-life objects and actual locations, which are layered with depictions from a different realm. Mr. Cruz’s play on dimensionality and layering invites the viewers to familiar yet strange surroundings. Swirled up in a mix of colours, shapes and lines, we see common landmarks and objects, and human forms. Viewers are invited to step away from reality and dive into wondrous imaginary worlds of his paintings.

本杰明”本”克鲁兹是2015年大华银行年度绘画（已建立的艺术家类别）奖的获得者。克鲁兹先生出生于1954年，是菲律宾和新加坡屡获殊荣的视觉艺术家。他拥有广告学学位，并从事绘画和平面设计事业。 在他的画作中，熟悉的风景变成了画布上的超现实世界。逼真的抽象绘画技术传达了现实生活中物体和实际位置的扭曲图像，这些图像与来自不同领域的描绘分层。克鲁兹先生在维度和分层方面的戏剧邀请观众熟悉而陌生的环境。在各种颜色、形状和线条的混合中，我们看到常见的地标和物体，以及人类形态。观众被邀请远离现实，潜入他绘画的奇妙想象世界。