October 30 – December 1, 2017

“Although my history is filled with adversity, racism and sheer bad luck; I celebrate these moments in my work, I could not make art without the experiences they have offered to me. The act of making pots is a similar process of transforming the ground we walk on into something we eat from; we prize; we search all day for the perfect spot to put it on display. In many ways, this relationship from tragedy to triumph is a metaphor for my life’s story.” – Roberto Lugo

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
In New Life: A Table for Everyone, Philadelphia-based ceramic artist Roberto Lugo uses porcelain, earthenware, china paints, ceramic decals, drawing, and painting, cross referenced with graffiti art, rap, and the history of ceramics. With these resources, he venerates the hip-hop heroes of his youth alongside the black history icons of the past. He memorializes lives lost in racial conflict, and honors his own roots. His work seeks to complicate perceptions of his “ghetto past,” demonstrating a simultaneous respect for, and resistance to, the environment he grew up in. Lugo began his career as a graffiti artist before being introduced to the potter’s wheel, which gave him both the means and the metaphor to carry his message of self-realization and social justice. Embracing the accessibility of familiar forms and functional objects, he shares layers of personal, cultural, and social content in an art that invites everyone to the table. As Lugo explains, “I have a dream where I can change the world by making pots, showing others how to make pots, and by bringing those very vessels to a meal – a meal where everyone is valued. My work creates a place where hate is put up against love and finally loses.”