No artist has shouldered more of the recent cultural diversification in craft than Roberto Lugo. Raised in poverty in Kensington, a former industrial neighborhood in Philadelphia, he has drawn powerfully on his personal journey—he likes to say that “pottery saved my life.” In a field that has historically struggled with ethnic and racial exclusion, his arrival on the scene was greeted rapturously. But Lugo has also transcended the politics of inclusion establishing himself as one of America’s most wide-ranging and erudite ceramic artists.
He is an astute observer of the medium’s history, with a focus on the Renaissance terra-cottas of the Della Robbia family of sculptors, and refined porcelain and stoneware from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Often, his approach is to graft signs of his own (and more generally, twenty-first century) identity onto these inherited forms, treating them as territories to mark up. He has also created self portrait works in film and sculpture and is a powerful spoken word performer. Lugo’s ever-expanding repertoire makes him one of the field’s great storytellers—telling stories that every American ought to hear.
Yo Soy Boricua: A DNA Study in resin and acrylic paint. Designed and made by Roberto Lugo, USA, 2019.
Figure: 66" x 29" x 16" / 167.64cm x 73.66cm x 40.64cm.
Vessel: 79.5" L x 44" W x 21" H / 201.9cm L x 111.8cm W x 53.3cm H
SP1375
Courtesy of Wexler Gallery