Artist Profile
Luis Emilio Romero
Luis Emilio Romero (b. 1996, Guatemala, raised in New Jersey) is an artist primarily focused on painting. Throughout his career, Luis Emilio has exhibited work in many places in New Brunswick during his four years of undergraduate at Rutgers University. This includes the Office of the Senior Vice President and General Counsel 2018 and Make a Wish Foundation Gala collaboration with Rutgers and The Rutgers Club, New Brunswick 2017. He also presented his work in group shows at Princeton NJ, of an ongoing exhibition called Art Jam in 2019. Luis Emilio is currently studying at Hunter College in New York City to receive his Masters in Studio Art.
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EDUCATION
2022 MFA Candidate, Hunter College, New York, NY.
2019 BFA, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, NJ
2018 Office of the Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Group Shows
2019 Art Jam 2019, Princeton, NJ
2018 The Rutgers Club, New Brunswick, NJ
2018 Onward & Forward, Rutgers Mason Gross
2017 Make a Wish Foundation Gala collaboration with Rutgers Business Governing Association
2017 Between Either & Or, Rutgers Mason Gross
Artist Statement:
I grew up in Guatemala, surrounded by lush green wildlife and an abundance of high-altitude mountains. As a painter, I draw from the energy of this land and from my family. I respond to the things around me: nature, color, and temperature. I weave them metaphorically using an approach that emphasizes both structure and abstraction.
Weaving is a cultural tradition amongst the indigenous lands that connects the maker to the material both intellectually and emotionally. David B Greene, the author of Weaving Space, has cited an indigenous weaver in Guatemala who says, “We see things all around us, so we weave them, but by the hands and eyes to new perceptual skills.”
In my paintings, I use form and patterning to function as an active force of energy linked to the notion of light and land. The tactility of the painting is linked back to weaving through the nature of oil paint. The complexity of color and texture is intricate and rich to uplift the structure and form. With color and mark making, the painting speaks powerfully to the notion of meditation. It is important to me that it connects back to my struggles and thoughts. I have a spiritual connection with my paintings.
Color in my work is about contrast and reaction to perceive a sense of light and tactility. The practice and study of these paintings have expanded my understanding of labor and patience. The structure of the composition is methodically mapped out through various sketches. These structural elements in the paintings are born out of a need to allow forms to repeat and depict new arrangements of shapes, lines, and colors. The act of painting is a meditative experience that connects abstraction using elements of color, linearity, repetition, and mark making to render the notion of light.