Deep Line Drawings by Carlos Luna

Carlos Luna looks to the artistic roots of his native Cuba while simultaneously infusing influences from Mexico. He left Cuba in 1991 at age 22, lived in Puebla, Mexico for eleven years and since 2002 calls Miami home. 

His harmonizing of these rich artistic traditions combined with life in Miami produce vibrant imagery in the vein of the rural pictographic history with contemporary tendencies. The exhibition will feature a new body of work on “amate” paper, which is handmade in Mexico from natural tree bark following a practice that dates back to Pre-Columbian times.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Whether or not you go, Carlos Luna illustrates Luna’s blend of influences in his amazing world of bright colors. Essays discuss his life and work, reproduced in large colorplates as well as close-up details. Cuban-born, Luna (b. 1969) is one of today’s most exciting contemporary painters. Thrumming with the spirit of Afro-Cuban tradition, Luna’s works range from jacquard tapestries, works on metal sheets, and Talavera ceramic plates to mixed media on wood and large-scale oil paintings.

Carlos Luna