Tomorrow marks the last “Mural Under the Stars” hosted by art historian and lecturer Gregorio Luke, who created the series twelve years ago and has taken it across the country.
Luke’s farewell “Mural” lecture promises not to disappoint: he’ll be taking on, for the first time, Vincent Van Gogh.
“Van Gogh is my family; he is the hero of all artists,” Luke said. “My mother in Mexico read to me his letters every day, the way other people read the Bible. I know him intimately more than any other artist.”
The purpose of the “Mural” series is simple: murals are meant to bring people to the massive, immoveable pieces of art. Luke inverses that concept by bringing the murals to the people with massive projectors and screens. The event has often been hosted by Long Beach’s Museum of Latin American Art, where Luke uses the museum’s massive 100-foot by 30-foot wall as a canvas of sorts.
Luke is known for his eloquent, intelligent approach to art history and his “Mural” series exemplified that. When it debuted at MOLAA in 2002, it was an instantaneous hit and would often sell out, especially when Luke took on “Los Tres Grandes” of Mexican art: Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
Luke even echoes those masters when discussing his leave.
“I’m not departing; I’m enlarging, I’m enriching,” Luke said. “Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros admired Van Gogh and would be happy to see me lecturing on him. They would want me to lecture also on Goya and Picasso.”
As for the next person to step up to the plate, Luke says he isn’t sure why no one has taken on the endeavor. Humbly describing himself as just a “teacher with a huge screen and a projector,” Luke is forthright in his sentiment that teachers need to teach more.
“Sadly, I don’t see anybody stepping up,” Luke said. “Why? Why can’t others do it also? I want to teach teachers. I want to empower them so they can blossom as performers and send all those idiotic politicians to hell, reclaim their turf and teach as much and as well as they can. To liberate teachers and make them artists, that is my higher calling.”
Luke was invited to lecture on Van Gogh at the prestigious Florence Biennale in Italy, making Van Gogh an obvious and easy pick for his last “Mural.”
“It was a hit,” Luke said. “Van Gogh resonates with the experience of most of those who try to be an artist. No recognition, no money, no fame; only toil, only the glory of getting it right and for one moment become one with light and color.”
“Mural Under the Stars: Vincent Van Gogh,” sponsored by the ArtExchange, Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, and ARCOS, will take place on Saturday, August 23, at 8PM. The event will be held at parking lot north of Acres of Books at the corner of Long Beach Blvd. and 3rd St.
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