Hugo Crosthwaite was born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1971 and grew up in the tourist-heavy beach town of Rosarito. Crosthwaite graduated from San Diego State University in 1997 with a BA in Applied Arts and Sciences from the School of Art, Art Design and Art History. The artist currently lives in Williamsburg, New York and is working on drawings for upcoming gallery shows including a 2008 exhibition of contemporary international drawings.

A four-panel architectural drawing by Crosthwaite, Linea, Escaparates de Tijuana 1-4, is currently traveling with TRANSactions: Contemporary Latin American and Latino Art. This exhibition, organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art - San Diego (MCASD), will travel from San Diego to the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester, Atlanta's High Museum of Art, University of North Carolina's Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, and the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

Crosthwaite's solo gallery exhibitions in Mexico and the United States include Hugo Crosthwaite, Mason Murer Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia, February - April 2008; Maniera Obscura/In a Dark Manner, ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries, Coral Gables (Miami), Florida, March-November 2005; Caprichos, Trópico de Nopal Gallery, Los Angeles, in 2004; On the Border of Surrealism, Daniel Saxon Gallery, Los Angeles, in 2002; Urbe Tenebrosa, Tijuana's State Gallery in 2001; and Tablas de una Novena at Tijuana's Cultural Center (CECUT) in 2000.

The artist's work has been included in several collective exhibitions throughout the United States and Mexico. Most recently, a 48 x 48 inch drawing on canvas, Lion Hunt was selected by juror Carter Foster (Curator of Drawings at New York's Whitney Museum of American Art) for inclusion in the 22nd International Juried Show at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. A 72 x 60 inch drawing on canvas, Untitled (Enfermas Facilmentes), received recognition in La Primera Bienal de Dibujo de las Americas (First Biennial of Drawings in the Americas) Rafael Cauduro Tijuana 2006. Two drawings (Chocada and Hombre Sobre Mesa) by Crosthwaite were included in the VII Bienal Monterrey FEMSA de Pintura, Escultura e Instalación, in 2005 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. A 6-foot square architectural drawing was included in the XII Bienal Rufino Tamayo organized by the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City and shown at many venues throughout Mexico from 2004 to early 2006. A large figurative piece (Sueño Pequeño) by Crosthwaite was included in Mujeres de Juárez: Art Against Crime, an exhibition of works by artists protesting the violence against women in Juarez, Mexico.