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Artist Luis Gerardo Mujica Gonzalez (known as Luis Mujica) was born in Valencia, Venezuela in 1983. Luis recalls a happy childhood. His father was a technical draftsman for a company building machines. * Being creative himself, Luis’s father encouraged Luis’s interest in painting and drawing, allowing him to express in colour what he could not in words. ** Luis attended a free local art school. He was naturally talented and remembers practising new techniques learned at the art school over and over until he felt confident, winning various awards afterwards. However, with limited family resources, Luis left the art school and went to work helping pay his way in the family home. *
In 2001, Luis started at the famous Venezuelan Plastic Art School, “Arturo Michelena”, where he studied art history and applied art. The art school’s teaching method involved studying art history and, at the same time, receiving practical guidance and full supervision in the studio in order to facilitate exploration and discovery of the student’s personal pathway to art. Luis worked and studied under the renowned Venezuelan master painter Francisco Bugallo, who directly mentored and influenced him with his vision of thinking beyond a rational point. Luis had strong drawing and construction skills which allowed him to take vital disciplines in composition and painting technique and to lay down a powerful base to his work.
From his educational base in Realism, Luis went on to study the Russian Avantgarde painter, Kazimir Malevich, with a desire to create real abstraction. Luis first worked in the laneways of Valencia as a street artist exploring graffiti art, where he experienced and learned perspective, how to mix colours precisely and the freedom of communication artistically.
Luis travelled to Australia in 2011. What was expected to be a short stay has extended to more than a decade, leading to him becoming an Australian citizen. Luis currently lives in Melbourne with his girlfriend and works out of the Swan Street Artist Studios in Richmond.
Luis held his first solo exhibition, Symmetrical Abstractions, at Moving Mountains Gallery in Wollongong in 2017. He then participated in the first Latin American Art Exhibition in St Kilda in 2018. * Since then, Luis has participated in several group exhibitions at the Swan Street Studios. A selection of his work was displayed at the Affordable Art Fair 2023.
Luis’s work is characterised by its crisp lines, sharp angles, and bold use of colour. He strives for precision and balance in every piece, using the interplay of positive and negative space to create a sense of tension and dynamism. ***
Luis’s influences have always been kinetic art and California hard edge works. * During his early years in Australia, Luis did not yet have a studio space but realised the necessity to keep exploring and experimenting with alternative concepts for his art, finding inspiration through improvisation. ** This led him to digital art. Using his computer as a contemporary tool, he looked to create a more detailed subject of lines crisscrossing and interposing each other giving a sense of eye motion, described by him as “kinetic abstraction”. During this digital phase, he created a number of works for private collections in Sydney. His digital work has been described as “large scale prints that are so mesmerising that it almost feels like a visual illusion”. **
However, Luis missed the techniques taught to him in art school and the distinctive touch of applying each layer of paint by hand, with the heart and eye of an artist, and so he challenged himself to recreate with his hands the precision delivered by using technology. Thus, his latest works are an expression of repetition of patterns to culminate in perfect harmony of colours and lines, almost as if he were trying to mimic the constant repetition of human movement and routine during life, through the destruction of form giving an abstract finish.
One of Luis’s personal passions is to embrace the “labyrinth of [his] thoughts and emotions” through surrealist painting technique, often enigmatic. He has also been teaching himself 3D animation and experiments with oil paintings, exploring the dynamic relationship between traditional landscape painting and the abstract realm. *
Although his work may appear simple at first glance, there is often a deeper meaning or message embedded within each piece. He draws inspiration from a wide range of sources, including architecture, geometry, and nature, and seeks to explore themes such as balance, harmony, and unity. * Luis recognises that “art speaks in the language of sensation, transcending the limitations of words … evoking emotions that resonate deep within the essence of our being”. *
Luis says that his goal is “to create work that is both visually engaging and intellectually stimulating, inviting the viewer to contemplate the interplay of form and colour and to draw their own conclusions about the meaning and significance” of each piece. Luis says: “I am a practical painter in spite of the complex appearance of my work.” ***
Luis’s works are held in private Collections in Melbourne and Sydney. * Email exchanges with Luis Mujica dated 21 August and 11 September 2023, Emily Ballinger ** Artist in Residence: Documentary on Visual Artist Luis Mujica, Two Storey Video Productions *** Luis Mujica, Artists, Gallery 550, undated.
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