• Pure Plantainum

    “Pure Plantainum”

    Date 2007
    Dimensions Variable
    Category Sculpture
    Medium Green plantains, plated in platinum
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
    Collection Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
  • Pimp My Piragua (detalles del performance, Brooklyn, NY)

    “Pimp My Piragua (detalles del performance, Brooklyn, NY)*”

    Date 2009
    Dimensions 48" x 84" x 38"
    Category Sculpture
    Medium Fiberglass, tricycle frame, speakers, flat panel video monitors, L.E.D. underbody lights
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
    Collection *Translation: Pimp My Piragua (performance details, Brooklyn, NY)
  • Porto Rican Cotton Picker, Detalle

    “Porto Rican Cotton Picker, Detalle *”

    Date 2011
    Dimensions 36" x 24"
    Category Installation
    Medium Newspaper and leather vest
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
    Collection *Translation: Porto Rican Cotton Picker, Detail
  • Barceloneta Bunnies

    “Barceloneta Bunnies”

    Date 2007
    Dimensions 72" x 72"
    Category Painting
    Medium Acrylic on canvas
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
  • Porto Rican Cotton Picker

    “Porto Rican Cotton Picker”

    Date 2011
    Dimensions 50" x 72" x 27"
    Category Installation
    Medium 1971 Schwinn Cotton Picker, L.E.D. lights, MDF, enamel, flags, archival photographs
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
  • Christine and Shabu, Amani Kites / smARTpower-Kenya

    “Christine and Shabu, Amani Kites / smARTpower-Kenya”

    Date 2012
    Category Photography
    Genre Portrait
    Period 21st Century
  • Sela and Adi, Amani Kites, smARTpower-Kenya

    “Sela and Adi, Amani Kites, smARTpower-Kenya”

    Date 2012
    Category Photography
    Genre Portrait
    Period 21st Century
  • Plátano Pride

    “Plátano Pride ”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 30" x 40"
    Category Photography
    Medium C-print
    Period 21st Century
    Collection The Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States
  • Inflatable Head of Columbus

    “Inflatable Head of Columbus”

    Date 2006
    Dimensions 132” diameter
    Category Installation
    Medium Vinil and blower
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 21st Century
  • Cayey

    “Cayey”

    Date 1999
    Dimensions 20" x 16"
    Category Photography
    Medium Digital Printing
    Genre Contemporary
    Period 20th Century

Miguel Luciano

San Juan, PR, 1972

Biography Details

Painter, Photographer and installation artist. Obtained his BFA from New World School of the Arts at University of Florida in 1997 and a MFA also from the University of Florida in 2000. He is the recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award Grant, the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award Grant, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Artist Fellowship: Painting, and a fellow of the smARTpower program – a community-based art initiative of the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the Department of State of the United States. His work is featured in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; The Brooklyn Museum in  New York; El Museo del Barrio in New York; the Newark Museum in New Jersey, United States and at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His work has been shown in both solo and group exhibits in Puerto Rico, the United States,  Brazil, France, Slovenia, Rusia and Mexico, among others. His work addresses both playful and painful exchanges between the United States and Puerto Rico, questioning a colonial relationship that exists to present day, and problematizing the space between the two cultures. 

Artist Statement

I feel it’s my responsibility to make work about things that I’m passionate about. I’m passionate about our history and culture, and also about human rights and social justice. But it doesn’t mean that I want to make didactic political work. History is full of contradictions and complexities. This is what makes it interesting. I’m particularly interested in how our visual history has informed (and misinformed) our consciousness about the Puerto Rican / Latino imaginary. My work often intervenes in that history, organizing images from past and present into new layers that challenge old, persistent narratives.

Source: “Q&A: Miguel Luciano”. Flab Magazine. 4 de septiembre de 2010. http://flabmag.com/qas/miguel-luciano/

Formation

Education

2000

  •  MFA, New World School of the Arts, University of Florida, Florida, United States

1997

  •  BFA, New World School of the Arts, University of Florida, Florida, United States

Exhibitions

Solo Shows

2012

  • smARTpower - Amani Kites, Kuona Trust, Nairobi, Kenya

2008

  •   Miguel Luciano, Taller Puertorriqueño, Lorenzo Homar Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States 

2007

  •  Pure Plantainum, CLA Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  •  When Hens Pee, Slater Gallery, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, United States 

2006

  • Miguel Luciano, CUE Art Foundation, New York, United States

2004

  • Miguel Luciano, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
  • Puerto Rican Folklore & Consumer Fantasy, Galería Tinta Roja, Institute of Puerto Rican Art and Culture, Chicago, Illinois, United States
  • Louisiana Porto Ricans,El Centro Gallery, Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, New York, United States

2002

  • La Carrera, la Parada, y lo Comprado, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2001

  • La Mano Poderosa Racetrack, Taller Boricua, New York, United States 

Group Shows

2014

  • Crossing Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States

2013

  • Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, United States
  • Voces y Visiones: Selected works form El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection, Nevada Museum of Art Reno, Nevada, United States
  • Rush Arts, Justice Blind, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, United States 

2012

  •  The Ripple Effect, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC, United States
  • El Panal / The Hive, III Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan, América Latina y el Caribe, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Interconexiones: Lecturas curatoriales de la colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  •  La Placita, Islip Museum of Art, Islip, New York, United States  

2011

  • Essays on Geopoetics, Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil 
  • América Latina: Arte y Confrontación, 1910-2010, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico 
  •  Labor, Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery, New York, United States

2010

  • Think Twice, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, United States 
  • VLA Art & Law Residency Exhibition, Maccarone Gallery, New York, United States
  • Global / National, Exit Art, New York, United States
  •  Accented, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, United States
  • Voces y Visiones – Forty Years of El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States

2009

  • La Grande Halle de la Villette,  Kréyol Factory, Parc de la Villette, Paris, France 
  • Puerto Rico: Human Geography, The Smithsonian Institution, Organization of American States,  Washington DC, Estados Unidos
  •  Bike Rides, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut,  United States
  • Puerto Rico: Geografía humana– Imágenes del siglo XXI, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  • Racism: An American Family Value, Center for Book Arts, New York, United States

2008

  • Center of Everywhere, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York, United States 
  •  The Labyrinth, Exit Art, New York, United States
  • OURS: Democracy in the Age of Branding,
  • Parsons The New School, New York, United States
  •  Grotesque Histories, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, United States
  •  En sus Marcas, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  • Global Warming at the Ice Box, The Ice Box, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States  

2007

  •  Infinite Island, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, United States
  • Ljubljana Biennial 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts,
  • Ljubljana, Slovenia 
  •  Estigma, Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • In Someone Else’s Skin, Hessel Museum, Bard College, New York, United States 

2006

  • Objetos de Gravamen y Causa, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • War ImPRessions,  Zverev Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia
  • Interplay, Exit Art, New York, United States
  • Tropicalisms: Subversions of Paradise, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States  

2005

  • Ljubljana Biennial, 26th Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

2004

  • I Trienal Poligráfica de San Juan, América Latina y el Caribe, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  • La Marginal – Spanic Attack, El Centro Cultural de España, Lima, Peru 
  •  Impresionante, International Print Center New York, New York, United States
  • Voces y Visiones, Southhampton, The Parish Art Museum, Long Island, New York, United States 

2003

  • The Caribbean Abroad: Contemporary Latino Artists and Migration, The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, United States
  •  American Dream, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York, United States
  •  Funky Fall Line, The Chelsea Art Museum, New York, United States;  The Berliner, Berlin, Germany
  • Critical Consumption, The Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, United States 

2002

  •  The S-Files, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
  •  Aim 22, The Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, New York, United States

Awards, Distinctions and Achievements

2014

  • Grant. Art Matters, Socially Engaged Art, New York, United States

2012

  • Fellowship. smARTpower, International Artist Fellowship, Bronx Museum of the Arts & The United States State Department, New York, United States

2010

  • Artist Residence. VLA Art and Law Residency Program, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, New York, United States

2011

  • Grant. Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, New York, United States

2007

  • Grant. Painters and Sculptors Grant Award, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, United States

2006

  • Grant. Artist and Communities Grant, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

2005

  •  Artist Residence. Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) 120 Broadway Workspace Residency, New York, United States

2004

  •  Artist Fellowship. New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), New York, United States

2003

  • Grant. Artist and Communities Grant, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, United States

2001

  •  Artist Residence, The Kitchen Artist Residency, Music, Image, Sound, and Text in Community (MISTIC), New York, United States
  •  Artist Residence, Bronx Museum of the Arts Artists in the Marketplace (AIM 22), Bronx, New York, United States

Collections

  • Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico 
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, United States
  • The Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States
  • El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
  • The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, United States  

Bibliography

Newspapers

Anduze, Laura. “En la piel ajena”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 28 de abril de 2007.


Bahrampour, Tara. “Written on the Wind”. Washington Post (Washington, EEUU)  8 de diciembre de  2012.


Cotter, Holland. , “Infinite Island: Caribbean Visions of Tropical Paradise and Protest”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU), 31 de agosto de 2007.


Cotter, Holland. “Critical Consumption, Review”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU) 7 de marzo de 2003.


Jacobson, Aileen. “Celebrating Heritage, Drawing Others in”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU) 28 de diciembre de 2012. 


Kilgannon, Corey. “Video: It’s the Cart that’s Art, as Cold as Ice”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU) 1 de octubre de 2008. 


Newhall, Edith. “One Man’s Revelation…”. The Philadelphia Inquirer (Pensilvania, EEUU) 11 de Julio de 2008. 


Genocchio, Benjamin. “Images of Tropical Lands, Issues of Caribbean Identity”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU) 21 de diciembre de 2003.


Vega, Maria. “La gallina de los huevos de plástico/The Hen with the Plastic Eggs”. El Diario (Nueva York, EEUU), 28 de agosto de 2003.


Rivera. Raquel. “Las Nikes Macheteras”. Claridad (San Juan, PR), 31 de enero de 2008.


Rodriguez, Jorge. “Una propuesta subversiva e irreverente de antiarte”. Primera Hora (San Juan, PR), 23 de noviembre de 2003.


López Pagán, Pedro. “Oro no es. Plata no es”, Primera Hora (San Juan, PR), 14 de septiembre de 2006.


Navarro, Mireya. “Tufiño- Painter of the People: Eye Trained on Puerto Rico’s Traditions”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU), 26 de marzo de 2003.


Lee, Felicia R. “Seeking Truth and Beauty in a Plastic Frog”. New York Times (Nueva York, EEUU), 18 de noviembre de 2001.


Magazines 

Block, Holly. Roving Eye: Into Africa. Art in America. 2012.


Portfolio: Miguel Luciano, Esse, Montreal, Quebec, Canadá, Spring / Summer 2010.


Velo: Bicycle Culture and Design, Gestalten, Berlin, Germany, 2010.


Brown, Jenny. Art Talk – Creative Spins. Art News. (Estados Unidos) septiembre 2009. 


Csaszar, Tom. Global Warming at the Ice Box. Sculpture Magazine (Estados Unidos), septiembre 2009.


Marshall, Wayne; Rivera, Raquel Z. Visualizing Reggaeton, Duke University Press, 2009.


Levitt, Peggy. Feet in Both Worlds, Harvard Review of Latin America (Massachusetts, EEUU) Primavera2008.

 

Kunitz, Daniel. Treasure Islands. Village Voice (Nueva York, EEUU) 11 de septiembre de 2007.  


Caragol, Taina. Notes on Changing Concepts of Identity in Puerto Rican Art. None of the Above, Real Art Ways (Connecticut, EEUU 2004.

 
Luker, Amanda. Street Artists Speak Out, Utne Reader (Estados Unidos) junio 2004. 


TV

2010 PBS / Thirteen, Annenberg Media Foundation, Art Through Time: A Global View, Episode One: Converging Cultures.