We live in troubled times with the news and digital media a constant barrage of environmental destruction, economic dysfunction, political turmoil. We all have ideas and opinions. But sometimes these find their most meaningful expression through art.
New York-based Luba Lukova creates striking, succinct, and purposefully powerful images that have been exhibited worldwide in exhibitions and through organizations. Her bold and expressive designs encapsulate some of the biggest concerns facing humankind today: Inequity, peace, environmentalism, censorship, immigration, human rights, and more.
Now, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at 50 East Freedom Way, Cincinnati, is turning to art in the fight for social justice. Luba Lukova Designing Justicewill feature a portfolio of social commentary prints and posters when it opens October 8.
Luba Lukova Designing Justice addresses essential themes of humanity and injustices worldwide through images embedded with thought-provoking messages. Lukova’s artwork helps viewers develop empathy for social and cultural issues through the use of metaphors and bold, succinct symbols that communicate universal truths about desire, fear, creation, hope and humankind’s endless capacity for love and hate.
“The power of art is the power to transform. Luba Lukova’s artwork encourages viewers to look inward as they stand before her images, revealing as much about individuals as it does society,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president & COO of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. “Designing Justice is a powerful addition to our museum experience and adds another critical step in guests’ personal journey as they reflect on the world around them and who they are in it.”
The exhibition is curated by New York-based artist Luba Lukova, regarded as one of the most original image-makers working today. In her art, less is more – more effect, more message, more expression. She works in saturated colors, sharp lines and clear compositions to create elegantly streamlined images that is both aesthetically beautifully and intellectually powerful. Her art is on display in permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Denver Art Museum; Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris; Hong Kong Heritage Museum; Centre de la Gravure et de l'Image imprimée in La Louviere, Belgium; and the Library of Congress and the World Bank in Washington, D.C. Her solo exhibitions has been displayed in Paris, Japan, Taiwan, New York, Boston and Atlanta. Lukova has been nominated for a Grammy for best recording package design for her cover of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington at the Cote D’Azur and has been awarded Grand Prix Savignac/World’s Most Memorable Poster at the International Poster Salon in Paris; the Gold Pencil from The One Club in New York; Honor Laureate at the International Poster Exhibition in Fort Collins, CO; and a grant from the Reisman Foundation.
Luba Lukova Designing Justice opens October 8 in the Freedom Center’s Skirball Gallery. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children and free for Freedom Center Members. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit freedomcenter.org/designingjustice. The exhibition closes March 22, 2022.