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James Luna: Petroglyphs in Motion

Jan. 12 – Mar. 15, 2002

Funded in part by a grant from Arts Council Silicon Valley

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James Luna is a nationally respected performance and multimedia artist. A Luiseño/Diegueno Indian and a resident of California's La Jolla Reservation, Luna creates his work for "a community of Indian tribes." He has received wide acclaim for his deconstruction of stereotypes and notions of "Indian" identity.

Luna has a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of California at Irvine, and an M.Sc. in Counseling from San Diego State University. He began his studies in painting, but it was when he discovered performance that his practice took shape. Luna's work has conceptual overtones, and he strives for minimal means in his multi-media and video installations. He has performed and exhibited in some of the most prestigious museums in the United States, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. "Let's get this out front," Luna explains, "theater is not what I am, though there are any number of similarities. Installation is very broad and that's one of its strengths. I approach it as I approach a painting. I don't think about acting. I am not a trained actor. But that's not to say that I don't script or monologue. I do, but it comes out of the art." In Notes on My Art Work #674, Luna writes, "I am not a healer but can be considered a clown." And clowning has its own healing power; as Luna says, humor is "the first step in recovery."

Petroglyphs in Motion is a video installation documenting one of Luna’s performances.