Luis Antonio Navas-Reyes
BIO
Luis A. Navas-Reyes is an interdisciplinary artist whose work Is a translation of abstract compositions, built upon a unique and personal visual vocabulary. His work is rooted in his identity, culture, environments, abstraction, power structures, familiar and historical histories. Utilizing media such as printmaking, drawings, sculpture, and bookmaking Luis explores his narratives. In 2018 Luis was awarded “Jurors choice” at an artworks juried show. That same year he was selected to participate in the DOLPH project that contextualized contemporary art practice. Luis completed his BFA at James Madison University in 2018. That same year he received a research grant to live and work in Seville Spain 2019. In the summer of 2020 he was awarded the Post Grad Residency at Torpedo Factory. He currently works as a photography teacher. STATEMENT My current practice incorporates concepts of loss and living, manifested in my Latin American ancestral past, identify, and cultural disembodiment. My drawings, prints, and sculptural works explore questions about the conqueror and the conquered, natures relationship to culture, and abstraction. I thread together my identity and visual vocabulary to create ancestral narratives which have been fragmented and lost through time. These ideas are captured in abstract forms in between the seen and unseen like carbon trapped in rock. I quote Humberto Ak'Abal “No es que las piedras sean mudas: solo guardan silencio” Translated into “It's not that the stones are mute: they just keep silent”. I like ideas to be collapsed or quiet in the artwork and in a way, it reflects who I am as an artist. I am interested in how culture, ideas, language, and physicality get lost, shared, transmitted and transformed over time. |
CV
Education
2018 James Madison University | BFA Studio Art, Printmaking
2016 Northern Virginia Community College | Associate of Fine Arts
Exhibitions
2022 McGuire Woods Gallery, FCPS Artist Teacher Exhibit | Lorton, VA
2022 Blackrock Gallery, Estamos Aqui | Germantown, MD
2021 Dupont UNDERGROUND, Somewhere between, by Fingir | Washington D.C.
2021 McGuire Woods Gallery, FCPS Artist Teacher Exhibit | Lorton, VA
2020 Target Gallery 2020 Post-Grad Residents Exhibition
2020 The People x Monochrome Virtual Art Fair
2019 Little exhibition, Seville, Spain Summer 2019
2019 Kaplan Gallery, NextGen 6.0 | Rockville, MD
2019 Endeavor RVA, Annual Print Show | Richmond, VA
2018 artWorks Gallery, DOLPH, Curated by Tash Kahn | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Grace Street Gallery, Thesis Show | Harrisonburg, VA *
2018 artWorks Gallery, Juried Show | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Smith House Gallery, Rising: Juried Show | Harrisonburg, VA
2017 artWorks Gallery, E(ART)T | Harrisonburg, VA
2015 Verizon Gallery, Student Show | Annandale, VA
*indicates solo exhibition
Awards
2018 artWorks Gallery, Juror's Choice | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 SADAH Senior Achievement Awards | Harrisonburg, VA
2017 Gardy Loo Literature and Arts Magazine Cover | Harrisonburg, VA
Artist Talks and Presentations
2022 Blackrock Gallery, Estamos Aqui | Germantown, MD
2019 School of Art, Design, and Art History, Student Artist Lecture Series | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 James Madison University, Artist Talk, Thesis Exhibition | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 artWorks Gallery, Artist Talk, DOLPH Project | Harrisonburg, VA
Published Works
2021 La Horchata Issue #8 En Los Tiempos De Cuarentena
2019 Furious Flower Poetry Book
2017 Gardy Loo Literature and Arts
2016 Calliope, The Student Journal of Art and Literature
2015 Calliope, The Student Journal of Art and Literature
Studio Experience and Collaborations
2019 ARTIST COLLABORATION, Nava Levenson "Studio Dirt Project"
2018 Artist collaboration, Joanna Pottle
2018 Artist collaboration, John Ros and Duke Gallery Collaboration
2018 Ceramics Studio Assistant, James Madison University | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Printmaking Studio Assistant, James Madison University | Harrisonburg, VA
Teaching Experience
Current Photography Art Educator, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
2016-8 Printmaking Teaching, Assistant James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
Education
2018 James Madison University | BFA Studio Art, Printmaking
2016 Northern Virginia Community College | Associate of Fine Arts
Exhibitions
2022 McGuire Woods Gallery, FCPS Artist Teacher Exhibit | Lorton, VA
2022 Blackrock Gallery, Estamos Aqui | Germantown, MD
2021 Dupont UNDERGROUND, Somewhere between, by Fingir | Washington D.C.
2021 McGuire Woods Gallery, FCPS Artist Teacher Exhibit | Lorton, VA
2020 Target Gallery 2020 Post-Grad Residents Exhibition
2020 The People x Monochrome Virtual Art Fair
2019 Little exhibition, Seville, Spain Summer 2019
2019 Kaplan Gallery, NextGen 6.0 | Rockville, MD
2019 Endeavor RVA, Annual Print Show | Richmond, VA
2018 artWorks Gallery, DOLPH, Curated by Tash Kahn | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Grace Street Gallery, Thesis Show | Harrisonburg, VA *
2018 artWorks Gallery, Juried Show | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Smith House Gallery, Rising: Juried Show | Harrisonburg, VA
2017 artWorks Gallery, E(ART)T | Harrisonburg, VA
2015 Verizon Gallery, Student Show | Annandale, VA
*indicates solo exhibition
Awards
2018 artWorks Gallery, Juror's Choice | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 SADAH Senior Achievement Awards | Harrisonburg, VA
2017 Gardy Loo Literature and Arts Magazine Cover | Harrisonburg, VA
Artist Talks and Presentations
2022 Blackrock Gallery, Estamos Aqui | Germantown, MD
2019 School of Art, Design, and Art History, Student Artist Lecture Series | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 James Madison University, Artist Talk, Thesis Exhibition | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 artWorks Gallery, Artist Talk, DOLPH Project | Harrisonburg, VA
Published Works
2021 La Horchata Issue #8 En Los Tiempos De Cuarentena
2019 Furious Flower Poetry Book
2017 Gardy Loo Literature and Arts
2016 Calliope, The Student Journal of Art and Literature
2015 Calliope, The Student Journal of Art and Literature
Studio Experience and Collaborations
2019 ARTIST COLLABORATION, Nava Levenson "Studio Dirt Project"
2018 Artist collaboration, Joanna Pottle
2018 Artist collaboration, John Ros and Duke Gallery Collaboration
2018 Ceramics Studio Assistant, James Madison University | Harrisonburg, VA
2018 Printmaking Studio Assistant, James Madison University | Harrisonburg, VA
Teaching Experience
Current Photography Art Educator, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA
2016-8 Printmaking Teaching, Assistant James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA