Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month- Artist Miguel Luciano

Barceloneta Bunnies, acrylic on canvas, 72” x 72”, 2006

I would like to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by highlighting Latinos Artist living in the United States. My first artist was my mentor while in Graduate School,  Miguel Luciano.

Artist statement: My work addresses playful and painful exchanges between Puerto Rico and the United States- questioning a colonial relationship that exists to the present and problematizing the space between the two cultures. I am interested in examining how colonial subordination is extended through globalization as communities have shifted gears from a production based society to one that is grounded in consumption. Exploring different mediums, from painting and drawing to interactive sculpture and public art; community interaction and accessibility have always played an important role in my work. From cereal boxes and children’s books, to vintage product labels and historic publications, my work draws upon a range of visual references, often recognizing popular, religious, commercial and consumer iconography into fluctuating new hierarchies – creating meaning anew from site a of resistance.

Miguel Luciano was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1972.  He received his BFA from the New World School of Arts, in Miami, FL and  an MFA from the University of Florida at Gainsville, FL. His work has been exhibited internationally:

Selected Individual Exhibitions 2012 Kuona Trust, smARTpower - Amani Kites, Nairobi, Kenya 2008 Lorenzo Homar Gallery, Miguel Luciano, Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia, PA 2007 CLA Gallery, Pure Plantainum, Boston, MA Slater Gallery, When Hens Pee, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Selected Group Exhibitions 2013 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, Washington, DC Nevada Museum of Art, Voces y Visiones: Selected works form El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection, Reno, NV Corridor Gallery / Rush Arts, Justice Blind, Brooklyn, NY 2012 Art Museum of the Americas, The Ripple Effect, Washington, DC San Juan Poly/Graphic Triennial, El Panal / The Hive, San Juan, Puerto Rico Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Interconexiones: Plátano Pride, San Juan, Puerto Rico Islip Museum of Art, La Placita, Islip, NY 2011 Mercosul Biennial, Essays on Geopoetics, Porto Alegre, Brazil Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, América Latina: Arte y Confrontacíon -1910-2010, Mexico City, Mexico Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery, LABOR, New York, NY 2010 Museum for Arts and Design, Think Twice, New York, NY Maccarone Gallery, VLA Art & Law Residency Exhibition, New York, NY Exit Art, Global / National, NY, NY Rotunda Gallery, Accented, Brooklyn, NY El Museo del Barrio, Voces y Visiones – Forty Years of El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection, NY, NY

Website: http://www.miguelluciano.com/Louisiana_Porto_Ricans.html

Miguel Luciano is a great artist and person, Thank you Miguel for guiding me through such an important time in my artistic process!