Diversity Series

Spring Quarter Diversity Series

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.S. 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."

James Luna

On Performance Art

Artist Lecture
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
11 a.m. and 6 p.m. - Lecture Hall 1

Artist's Performance
Friday, April 25, 2008
Time 8:00 p.m. - Longhouse

Available through the Evergreen Library:

• James Luna : Emendatio / Truman T. Lowe and Paul Chaat Smith, curators
  Evergreen Library Call No.: N6537.L84 A4 2005 .
  This book includes a DVD documentary about Luna's performance at the Venice Biennale in 2005.
• Obsession, Compulsion, Collection: on Objects, Display Culture and Interpretation / edited by Anthony Kiendl. Evergreen
  Library Call No.: N410 .O27 2004 .
  This book includes an essay by James Luna titled "Sun and Moon Blues," (pp. 146-153) and an interview with James Luna by Amber-Dawn Bear Robe titled" I'm Only in it for the Money, Girls, and Fancy Cars" (pp. 154-168).
• Article: "Failures of Self-Seeing: James Luna remembers Dino," by Jane Blocker, from PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art , Vol. 23, No. 1 (Jan 2001) pp18-32.
  This article is available through the journal database ArtStor, which the Evergreen Library subscribes to. It is downloadable in PDF file format.
• A series of Video/DVDs that document James Luna's performances will be available from the Evergreen Library in the coming months, including the following performance art pieces: Take a Picture with a Real Indian, Petroglyphs in Motion, The Creation and Destruction of a Reservation , and others.

Here is the artist's website: www.jamesluna.com