Luba Lukova

Luba Lukova
Luba Lukova
Visual Artist
Born Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Nationality American
Known for Visual Art
Website lukova.net

Luba Lukova is an American visual artist and designer, known for her thought-provoking images and expressive poster designs. Her work has won international acclaim, and is represented in the permanent collections of the MoMA,[1] Denver Art Museum, the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and Bibliotheque Nationale de France.[2]

Biography

Lukova was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia.[3] Аfter her graduation in 1986 she was forced by then-Communist regime to leave Sofia and resettle in the town of Blagoevgrad.[4] She moved to the United States in 1991, after traveling to participate in the Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition; shortly thereafter, she was hired by the New York Times Book Review and established her studio in New York City.[5] Lukova's work is exhibited around the world and has won many awards including: Grand Prix Savignac at the International Poster Salon in Paris, ICOGRADA Excellence Award, and Reisman Foundation Award. She holds an honorary doctoral degree from the Art Institute of Boston.

Work

Lukova is known for using bold contrasts, visual metaphors, and highly-focused concepts to create images that take "only seconds to grasp meaning."[2] Stylistically, her work has been compared to that of German Expressionists, Escher,[6] and Picasso,[2] and she cites inspiration from Goya, Rembrandt, Käthe Kollwitz, folk art, and Chekov. Her art incorporates vivid colors, simplified figures and hand-rendered typography, and frequently comments on social issues including income inequality, censorship, corruption, and environmental conditions.[4] "Her seemingly simple, two- or three-color images carry the emotive power of expressionist wood engravings [...] Lukova's vocabulary is the human body, stretched, deformed, twisted gracefully and grotesquely."[4]

Lukova discusses the use of figures in her work in contrast to more conceptual visual art, stating, "How can we produce such things when half the people on earth are starving and there are wars and disease? I think people feel my work is strong because I want to use the human figure to talk about the human condition."[4] These themes are prominent in her "Social Justice 2008" series of posters, as well as works for Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian organizations, universities, Broadway productions, non-profit organizations, Shakespeare plays, choreographers, and the War Resisters League.[2][7]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

References

  1. "Modern Women / Women Artists in the Online Collection". www.moma.org. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Foster, John (2006). New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design for the Next Century. United States of America: Rockport Publishers. pp. 116–123. ISBN 1-59253-222-5.
  3. Gomez-Palacio; Vit, Bryony; Armin (2008). Women of design: influence and inspiration from the original trailblazers to the new groundbreakers. Cincinnati, Ohio: HOW Books. pp. 114–116. ISBN 1600610854.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Nelson, Katherine (May 1997). "Coming to America". Print 51 (3): 98–105.
  5. Palacio, Bryony Gomez; Vit, Armin (2011-12-01). "Luba Lukova". Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design. Rockport Publishers. ISBN 9781592537426.
  6. Heller, Steven (1 March 2004). "Separated at Birth: Lifting Luba Lukova". Print 58 (2): 16.
  7. Rue, Ella (June 2010). "An interview with Luba Lukova". Designer 35 (2): 16–21. ISSN 1549-9235.
  8. "Graphic Guts: The Art of Luba Lukova". COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  9. "Gold Coast Arts Center – Luba Lukova: Graphic Guts". greatneckarts.org. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  10. "Final Week: I Have a Dream, an exhibition by Luba Lukova : Graphic Art News". Graphic Art News. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  11. "Internationally regarded poster artist comes to OSU". News and Publications, Oregon State University. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  12. "Untitled". Print 63 (3): 16. June 2009.
  13. Ruby, Kristin (Spring 2010). "An Interview with Luba Lukova". Design 35 (2): 16–21. ISSN 1549-9235.

Further reading

External links

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