The Village Potter by Roberto Lugo
Philadelphia-based award-winning ceramicist Roberto Lugo creates defiant, genre-mixing works that confront the function, subject matter and rules of high art, from classical antiquity and East Asia to the Italian Renaissance, 17th-century Europe and beyond. Using the ancient medium of clay as his canvas, Lugo calls attention to intergenerational experiences of racial injustice while celebrating African American and Latino culture. It’s the anthropological context of ceramic art that first captured Lugo’s attention across history, finely crafted ceramics symbolised class, privilege and the aristocracy. Lugo intervenes in these histories, developing a new mode of storytelling that blends narrative and portraiture with cross-disciplinary techniques and time-honoured forms to introduce those notably absent from art history’s canon.
Philadelphia-based award-winning ceramicist Roberto Lugo creates defiant, genre-mixing works that confront the function, subject matter and rules of high art, from classical antiquity and East Asia to the Italian Renaissance, 17th-century Europe and beyond. Using the ancient medium of clay as his canvas, Lugo calls attention to intergenerational experiences of racial injustice while celebrating African American and Latino culture. It’s the anthropological context of ceramic art that first captured Lugo’s attention across history, finely crafted ceramics symbolised class, privilege and the aristocracy. Lugo intervenes in these histories, developing a new mode of storytelling that blends narrative and portraiture with cross-disciplinary techniques and time-honoured forms to introduce those notably absent from art history’s canon.
Meet the Maker:
The Village Potter by Roberto Lugo
Roberto Lugo’s entry point into art was graffiti, which his work riffs on through hand-painted portraiture and surface designs inspired by his Philadelphian upbringing and Puerto Rican heritage. Calling himself 'a village potter', Lugo also has a digital platform of the same name that offers ceramic objects – cups, coffee pour overs, butter dishes and more – that are both accessible and relatable.
