David Antonio Cruz (b. 1974, Philadelphia) received his BFA in Painting from Pratt Institute and his MFA from Yale University. He also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and completed the AIM Program at the Bronx Museum, New York. Recent residencies and fellowships include the LMCC Workspace Residency, New York (2015); Gateway Project Spaces, Newark, NJ (2016); BRIC Workspace Residency, Brooklyn (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Award (2018), and Mass Cultural Council's Artist Fellowships (2022). Cruz's work has been included in notable exhibitions at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C (2014/2021); El Museo del Barrio, New York (2006/2016); the Ford Foundation, New York (2019); the Brooklyn Museum (2019); ) McNay Art Museum, San Antonio (2019), and the Kemper Art Museum (2021/2022. Cruz is currently on view for A Place For Me: Figurative Painting Now, ICA Boston (2022), The Block Museum at Northwestern (2022), The New England Triennial at Fruitland Museum (2022), and the Museum of the African Diaspora (2022). Recent press includes The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WhiteHot Magazine, W Magazine, and El Centro Journal.

Cruz is a professor at Columbia University School of the Arts.