Selected Works
#2102, 2022, thread over wood frame with plaster, paint and nails, 33 x 33 x 5.7 cm (30 x 30 x 3.2 inn)
#1631 off edge, paint on plaster in aluminum frame, 52.0 x 60.0 x 6.9 cm (0.5 x 23.6 x 2.7 in)
#2104 Formation, 2022, thread over wood frame with plaster, paint and nails, 76.2 x 76.2 x 8.2 cm (30 x 30 x 3.2 inn)
#1623 shot formation, 2018, paint on plaster in aluminum frame, 50.8 x 60.9 x 11.4 cm, (20 x 24.0 x 4.5 in)
#1932 Days in April, 2020, Thread over wood and plaster frame with nails, 46 x 46 x 5 cm, 18 x 18 x 2 in
#2138 Tug, 2022, paint on plaster in aluminum frame, 52.0 x 60.0 x 6.9 cm (0.5 x 23.6 x 2.7 in)
#2089 One, Two, Six, 2021, thread over wood frame with paint and nails, 79.37 x 69.21 x 7.62 cm (31.25 x 27.25 x 3 in)
#1994 Lost Photograph #94 circa 1860, 2020, hand ground Sumi ink, glass, paper and graphite in painted wood frame, 30.48 x 38.1 x 5.08 cm
#1988 “Lost Photograph #88 circa 1860, 2020, hand ground Sumi ink, glass, paper and graphite in painted wood frame, 30.48 x 38.1 x 5.08 cm
#1992 Lost Photograph #92 circa 1860, 2020, hand ground Sumi ink, glass, paper and graphite in painted wood frame, 30.48 x 38.1 x 5.08 cm
#2152 Spin, 2023, Deep thread over painted wood frame with nails, 42 x 42 x 5.7 cm, 16 ½ x 16 ½ x 2 in
Emil Lukas
Born 1964, Pittsburgh, United States
The work of American artist, Emil Lukas, reimagines painting both materially and structurally, with great consideration for intuition and optics, his works amplify the complexity of painting. His material production is process-oriented. He uses accessible, albeit uncommon, materials to develop a body of work of an abstract nature that follows a cumulative, experimental logic. His methodology stems from a detailed study of the materials’ possibilities and their symbolic potential, along with extensive research on human perception.
Lukas explores different forms of abstraction, and his artistic production is in line with that of the artistic movement concerned with perception-related phenomena, whose work seeks to provide a kind of sensitive knowledge and profound physical experiences of transcendental vocation. Through his art, he poses questions and stirs sensations which can be read as both a critical reflection on the mechanisms used to produce images or as metaphors of more universal existential issues.
Lukas has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. Solo museum shows include “Emil Lukas: Connection to the Curious” at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT (2005); “Emil Lukas” at The Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC (2005); “Things with Wings,” The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA (2005); and “Moderate Climate and the Bitter Bison” at the Hunterdon Museum, Hunterdon, NJ (2008). In 2016, a solo exhibition of his work was held at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA. Lukas’ work has been featured in group shows at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1995), Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (1996); Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (1998); Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City (1999); American Academy, Rome (2000); The Drawing Center, New York (2002); and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2012-13). His work is in important private and public collections, including the Panza Collection, Italy; the Dakis Joannou Collection, Greece; Margulies Collection, Miami; Allentown Art Museum, PA; the Anderson Collection at Stanford University; Baltimore Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San José Museum of Art; UBS Art Collection; and Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC.
Selected Exhibitions
2022 “Emil Lukas: The Narration of Light,” Galleria Gracis, Milan, 20 September – 20 October; Photo & Contemporary, Turin, 5 November – 24 September
2020-21 “Emil Lukas: All Connected, Like It or Not,” Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, 5 December 2020 – 16 January 2021
2019 “Emil Lukas,” Sperone Westwater, New York, 9 January – 23 February
2018 “Emil Lukas: Twin Orbit,” Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, 5 May – 16 June
2017 “Emil Lukas,” Studio La Città, Verona, 12 October – 18 November “Emil Lukas,” Sperone Westwater, New York, 7 January – 11 February
2016 “Emil Lukas,” Morris Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 14 January – 10 April
2015 “Recent Works,” Photo & Contemporary, Torino, 15 May – 30 June “Emil Lukas: Ringing of Distant Events,” Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, 21 March – 9 May
2014-15 “Emil Lukas: Large Curtain,” Studio La Citta, Verona, 13 December 2014 – 7 February 2015 2014 “Emil Lukas,” Sperone Westwater, New York, 9 January – 22 February
Collections
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA Anderson Collection, Stanford University Baltimore Museum of Art Comcast Technology Center, Philadelphia Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK Dakis Joannou Collection, Greece Denver Art Museum Fondation d’Art Contemporain Daniel et Florence Guerlain, Paris Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, Seattle Margulies Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Norton Museum, Shreveport, LA Panza Collection, Italy Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San José Museum of Art UBS Art Collection Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
Past Exhibition
Emil Lukas: The Distance of Time
January 10th - February 12th, 2023
Emil Lukas’ work addresses universal concerns. His pieces offer a sensitive look at the world through an accumulation of experiences. The internal power of his art dazzles with a beauty that is not an end in itself, but a means to glimpse at issues that transcend us. Devoid of pompous speeches, his sensitivity and honesty put us in an essentially human and universal place.”
Martin Craciun (Montevideo, 1980)