Raised in the backwoods of fertile central Florida, I was constantly bombarded with intimately scaled visions of undisturbed natural beauty. These visions, juxtaposed to those of the nearby developing metropolises, instilled within me a great urge to interact with nature in a way that attempts to preserve a high standard of aesthetic stimulation. This urge has slowly evolved into an obsession with the production of fine art that seeks to connect a universal perception of natural beauty with the conditioned behavior of man, thus creating a visual stimulus that preserves a high aesthetic standard while remaining socially significant.                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                 Luketaft

My Credentials 

• Received Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art Studio with departmental honor of Magna Cum Laude at The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

• Received Associate of the Arts Degree at
  Santa Fe Community College, Gainesville, FL

Some of my recent contributions to the arts

 

• Questioned the idea of freedom within human sexuality, displaying several small scale cast bronze and mixed media sculptures in Just Metals, an exhibition in down town Albuquerque showing the diversity of cast and fabricated small scale metal construction in the spring of 2006.

 

• Exhibited an audio-kinetic sculpture titled Digital Redneck in the fall of 2006 at the Sommers Gallery in Albuquerque, NM for a sculpture show in which the participants created an accurate and a focused representation of visual ideas by way of using their own identities as a the sole resource for subject matter.

 

• Revealed my male perspective of a feminine “Creator” in a painting series called Creation that was exhibited at El patio restaurant in the spring of 2007.

 

• Challenged a perceived inappropriate use of the male-produced female nude form by displaying a large scale body-scape painting (48”x96”) at El Patio Restaurant in the summer of 2007. This challenge was not well received as, although admired by many of the patrons, I was asked by the proprietor to remove the painting within several weeks of its presence.

 

• Brought forward the relevance of celebrity identity in a media driven society in understanding an American condition that tends to polarize its subjects, exhibiting a painting series called The American Tree at El Patio Restaurant in the fall of 2007. This series was also jury selected for display in Political Art, an exhibition at Verb Collective Gallery in Albuquerque, NM that ran the month of January, 2008.

 

• Created an internet website and gallery in the fall of 2007, www.luketaft.com, in which to display and make publicly available my work and services as well as that of other local artists.

 

• Joined and became active in a user based international online questions and answers forum in the visual arts category of Yahoo Answers that is dedicated to fine art painting. Both asking and answering questions within a community of professional artists has helped to spread knowledge, thus adding diversity to the contemporary world of fine art.

 

• Questioned the relevance of Che Guevara as an adopted icon by a contemporary peace-loving movement by exhibiting a series of painting called Che Guevara- Alive and Dead at Mask Y Mass Gallery in Albuquerque, NM