About
Taya De La Cruz is a British-Gibraltarian artist known for her intricate, emotionally resonant works that explore the intersection of human psychology, elite performance, and the legacies we leave behind. Since 2019, her practice has evolved into a unique fusion of technique and storytelling, using custom-developed resin formulas, hand-syringed mark-making, and some of the smallest, neatest handwriting in the world.
Her process is deeply meticulous — each artwork is composed of thousands of intentional marks, often embedded with microscopic handwritten text that requires a magnifying glass to read, inviting viewers to slow down and look closer.
Her most recent series, Legacy, asks what we do with the time we’re given and what remains after we’re gone. Her previous body of work, Skin Deep, challenged the societal expectation that beauty is a woman’s greatest currency, creating powerful visual commentaries on worth, identity, and visibility.
Taya’s work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, with The Auction Collective, and at The Other Art Fair. Her pieces are instantly recognisable for their jewel-like tactility, rare techniques, and emotional precision. At the heart of every work is the same invitation: to pause, reflect, and consider the invisible forces that shape our lives.
MAnifesto
Art is a mirror for the unseen — not just what we look like, but what we carry, what we dream of, and what we leave behind.
We live in a world moving at impossible speed, but art can slow us down. It can create the pause. The breath. The space between stimulus and response — where we remember who we really are.
We are not here to merely pass through life. We are here to witness it. To shape it. To connect deeply with ourselves and with others. To create meaning, not just moments.
Every mark made by hand, every microscopic word, every impossibly fine detail — these are acts of presence. Of defiance against distraction. Of respect for the power of attention.
This is art that demands a closer look. Not for vanity. But because the closer we look, the more we see — not just in the work, but in ourselves.
Connection is the true currency. Precision is its language.
And beauty — real beauty — is what happens when we pay attention to the details.
Influences
Jackson Pollock
His pieces look so wonderfully tactile. If it wouldn't get me arrested, I would just love to run my hands all over them and feel his expression on the canvas. His work speaks to that visceral, inner child in me who just wants to get her hands dirty and experiment. So far removed from who I have grown up to be.
Bridget Riley
I love the power her pieces command with such simplicity in composition. I keep coming back to her work when I find myself "over designing" my pieces, and usually simplify my ideas a few times before I am ready to start writing or painting them. She demonstrates beautifully how less really is more sometimes.
Agnes Martin
I admire Agnes' unique gift of storytelling with minimal form. I don't see her pieces, I feel them. To me, they feel like gentle, benevolent, supportive friends. They don't shout, they whisper, and in this fast-paced modern world, it's a welcome difference in message.