James Luna

A n I n t r o d u c t i o n t o
C o n t e m p o r a r y N a t i v e A r t i s t s i n C a n a d a

J a m e s L u n a

b. 1950, Orange, California
First Nations Affiliation: Luiseño/Diegueno

A resident of California's La Jolla Reservation, James Luna creates his work for 'a community of Indian tribes', and 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 Counselling 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 is in wide demand as a guest speaker and panelist at pre-eminent venues, including Harvard University in 1991. That same year, he was the recipient of the Bessie Creator Award of the New York Dance and Theatre Workshop. In 1993, the City of San Francisco commissioned Luna, with artist Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, to create a collaborative Public Sculpture / Performance area. Luna has exhibited works in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

R E C E N T E X H I B I T I O N S

1998	Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco, California [performance piece]
1995	Tribal Identity: An Installation by James Luna. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
c.1994	My Way: A Performance by James Luna.
1992	Sites of Recollection: Four Altars and a Rap Opera. Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachesetts Body Takes. Toronto Photographers Workshop, Toronto, Ontario Land, Spirit, Power. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario As Public As Race. [performance piece] Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, Alberta
1991	Facing the Finish. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California SITEseeing. Whitney Museum, New York, New York Shared Vision. Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Disputed Identities. Presentation House, Vancouver, British Columbia Selected Works 1990-91. Palomar College, San Marcos, California Contemporary American Indian Art. [performance piece] San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, California Indigenous America: Honoring Our Heritage. University of California, San Diego, California
1990	Artifact Piece. [performance] The Decade Show. The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, Georgia San Francisco Camerawork, San Francisco, California California Indian Conference, Riverside, California 2 Worlds. American Indian Community House, New York, New York Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C.

S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Blondeau, Lori, and Bradlee Larocque. "Surreal, post-Indian subterranean blues." Mix: the Magazine of Artist-run Culture 23, no. 3 (Winter 1997 / 1998): 46-53.

"Body takes." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 26 June 1992, p. D8. [Review: Toronto Photographers Workshop]

Cardinal-Schubert, Joane, Kerri Sakamoto, and Larissa Laim. As Public as Race: Margo Kane, James Luna, Paul Wong. Preface by Sylvie Gilbert. Banff, Alberta: Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, 1993.

Castillo, Edward, D. and Michael Schwager. Shared Experiences, Personal Interpretations: Seven Native American Artists. Rohnert Park, California: University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, 1993. [Catalogue for an exhibition held 23 February to 21 March 1993]

Chapman, Steve, Susan Jeffrey, and Ruth Denny. "Art of the people." Art Paper 12, no. 3 (November 1992): 9-11.

Durland, Steven. "Call me in '93: An interview with James Luna." High Performance 14, no. 4 (Winter 1991): 34-39.

Harlan, Theresa. "Creating a visual history: A question of ownership." Aperture, no. 139 (Spring 1995): 20-33.

Harper, Glenn. "The hanged sparrow: Post utopian art." Art Papers 20, no. 1 (January-February 1996): 30-33.

Lippard, Lucy R. Mixed Blessings: New Art In A Multicultural America. New York, New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

Luna, James. "Allow me to introduce myself: The performance art of James Luna." Canadian Theatre Review 68 (Fall 1991): 46-47.

Luna, James. " I've always wanted to be an American Indian." Aperture, no. 139 (Spring 1995): 38-41.

Mandle, Julia Barnes, and Deborah Menaker Rothschild. Sites of Recollection: Four Altars and a Rap Opera. Williamstown, Massachusetts: Williams College Museum of Art, 1992.

Nemiroff, Diana, Robert Houle, and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1992.

Roalf, Peggy, ed. Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices. New York, NY: Aperture, 1995.

Robertson, Sheila. "Artist lampoons cultural stereotype." (Saskatoon) Star Phoenix, 18 October 1997, p. B-362.

Rushing, W. Jackson and Kay WalkingStick, eds. "Special issue: Recent Native American art." Art Journal 51, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 6-80.

Solnit, Rebecca. "The postmodern Old West, or the procession of cowboys and indians, Part II: Indians, or breaking out of the picture." Art Issues no. 45 (November-December 1996): 26-31.

Townsend-Gault, Charlotte. "Ritualizing ritual's rituals (ritual as a vehicle for personal and social negotiation in contemporary Native American Art)." Art Journal 51 (Fall 1992): 51-58.

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