Since the late 1970s the paintings and drawings of Luis Cruz Azaceta have been addressing the moral and ethical pulse of this country. Early works focused on urban violence, the Aids epidemic, and racism. His current works relate to the rapid state of change in the world at large – war, terrorism, displacement, identity, and collapsing economies.

He has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and has been awarded grants including The Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Joan Mitchell Foundation. His work is in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and The Whitney Museum of Art in New York, The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., Museo De Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela, Marco, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo De Monterrey, Mexico among others.