Luis Luna Colombia, b. 1958

LUIS LUNA 

Colombia, 1958 

Luis Luna began studying medicine at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia, in 1976. Five years later, in 1981, he decided to make a career change and enrolled in the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Bogota, where he studied art for two years. 

In 1983 Luna traveled to Germany to study Art in Context at the HDK (Fine Arts University) in Berlin. He remained there until 1988, when he returned to Colombia. From 1989 to 1991, Luna ran the Museum of Modern Art's Education Department in Bogota, Colombia. During this time, he was also invited by the Mexico City Scholarship organization to exhibit his work.

Winner of a Fulbright Scholarship, Luna left in 1991 for New York City. Between 1991 and 1994 he attended the School of Visual Arts and earned his MFA. During the Summer of that same year, Luna joined the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture's Summer Art Residency in Maine. 

Luna returned to Colombia in 1994 and established his atelier in Villa de Leyva where he dedicated most of his time to researching Colombian literature and illustrators from La Nueva Granada (Colombia's name in colonial times). He studied Goya's work extensively, topics related to alchemy and American Baroque literature. Since then, he focuses his research on hermetic subjects and 19th century illustrations from travelers of La Nueva Granada. His work includes new digital techniques, videos, drawings on paper, prints, oil paintings and site-specific installations. 

Since 1994, Luna has been working and living in Colombia, between Villa de Leyva and Bogotá. He has exhibited both in Colombia and abroad, in galleries and institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in Bogota, Cuba Biennale, Cuenca Biennale and the Mykonos Biennale. His work is included in public collections in Colombia and Latin America such as Museo de Arte del Banco de la Republica, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá, Museo de Arte Moderno de Pereira, Museo de Arte Moderno de Cartagena, Bancolombia and Banco de Occidente in Colombia, and Colección López Velarde in México City, among others. 

Luna has worked as a teacher in major universities in Colombia and abroad.  In 2005, he founded ANNA, a non-profit organization which supports and promotes cultural exchange at the national and international level, with special emphasis on peripheral rural areas and in artistic and cultural manifestations that are not promoted in the artistic mainstream circuits.