Art is a powerful vehicle for emotional messages that cut deep to the bone. However, rarely do we ever see thought-provoking art that critically challenges our own fraught relationship with nature. Luciana Abait is a successful artist that has taken it upon herself to help us reflect upon our intrusive acts against nature, as well as providing us with alternate images marked by adaptation and assimilation to our natural environment.
Nature has been a predominant theme in the artworks of Luciana Abait for over two decades. Her work has usually revolved around the elements of nature such as water, air, vegetation, fire, mountains, and icebergs. Her art comes in the form of manipulated photographic landscapes, installations, and photo sculptures. She expertly adapts natural landscapes and man-made objects to new roles where they coexist in the sense of magic realism.
Luciana Abait’s art could tell a variety of subtle stories, such as icebergs representing herself as a wanderer, shifting between oceans and continents; mountains becoming metaphors for the hurdles and obstacles that she had to face upon departing her native hometown in the 1990s.
“My images are sourced from personal photographs, textbooks, encyclopedias, and stock imagery connecting personal experience to a collective geographic history,” explained Luciana. “I work over the surface with pencils and pastels erasing the photographic quality beneath and lending urgency to emotionally charged scenes.”
Recently, she has taken a far more direct approach in trying to get her message across. Rather than the subtle nature of her art, she has taken an aggressive stance against climate change after having been inspired by California’s strong commitment to addressing environmental issues. Since 2012, Luciana Abait has had five solo exhibitions at Los Angeles International Airport.
In 2019, she installed her largest and most ambitious solo exhibition to date entitled “A Letter to the Future,” an art installation that aims to raise awareness of environmental issues and the urgent need for corrective actions to halt global warming.
Apart from her exhibition work, Luciana Abait has also completed several corporate and public art commissions. Her most famous artworks include “Vistas,” a twenty-four-foot mural commissioned by Miami-Dade County, “Golf Windows” for the Florida Public State Buildings Program, and “Hong Kong Windows” for Swire Properties in Hong Kong.
Luciana Abait has also collaborated with The Related Group, Florida State University, Permanent Art Collection of Neiman Marcus, Four Seasons, and the University of Miami in Florida, King and Spalding in Texas, Lehigh University Museum and West Collection in Pennsylvania, Sprint Corporation in Missouri, Freshfields, and many more.
This past year, Luciana has been focusing her practice on outdoor exhibitions and projects where the public could enjoy the artwork while safely following COVID-19 health guidelines and protocols due to the California lockdowns.
“I have been creating public art as a way to give people a moment of respite and joy in the midst of all the collective mourning that we have been experiencing,” shared Luciana.
One of these projects includes a multichannel artwork that combined videos of water that were projected as a monumental waterfall cascading over the Petroleum Securities building, a historic cultural monument in Downtown Los Angeles. It was part of LUMINEX, presented by NowArt LA and Building Bridges Art Exchange. The piece was called “Agua,” and people were able to dance, stand, play, and immerse themselves in the light of the waterfall, making it an immersive and engaging artwork that was enjoyed by people of all ages and from different walks of life.
In the near future, Luciana Abait hopes to expand her influence and create a more positive impact in our fight against climate change. Through her thought-provoking art, she hopes to remind us all about our duties of protecting nature and becoming one with our environment rather than imposing upon it and causing destruction in our wake. To know more about Luciana Abait and her art, make sure to check out her official website. Follow her Instagram for more live updates.
