The Art Gallery at Rivier University presents Luba Lukova: Designing Justice exhibition

censorship
2001
This image was first published on the cover of The New York Times’ Sunday Arts and Leisure section in conjunction with an article on the Taliban regime’s ban on music. Lukova later included it in her Social Justice portfolio as a visual commentary on censorship and freedom of expression.

Luba Lukova: Designing Justice

Rivier University is hosting an exhibition of Designing Justice, works by internationally renowned, New York-based artist Luba Lukova. The collection will be on display from January 31 – March 3. Lukova specializes in high-impact, discussion-triggering images on peace, censorship, immigration, ecology, hunger and corruption, and other social justice issues. Designing Justice addresses essential themes of humanity through images embedded with thought-provoking messages.

Lukova’s artwork helps viewers develop empathy for social and cultural issues through the use of metaphors and bold, succinct symbols that communicate universal truths about desire, fear, creation, hope, and man’s endless capacity for love and hate. In her art, less is more. More effect, more message, more expression; all while doing it with less. The graphic elements are bold with few fine details, but the intent is clear. Her messages reflect the human condition, fundamental fairness, and justice.

In an NPR interview discussing her work, Lukova shared, “’In our life today, we use justice in so many contexts, from racial to environmental to social … But in the end, it’s just this idea of right and wrong—that fundamental idea of doing the right thing, of not hurting the people around you, just being honest, being truthful, being rightful in our actions.’”

Lukova’s elegantly printed images are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Denver Art Museum; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Hong Kong Heritage Museum; Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image imprimée, La Louvière, Belgium; the Library of Congress; and the World Bank, Washington, D.C. Designing Justice is currently on view at the Smithsonian Affiliate National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has traveled to galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and internationally. Rivier will be Lukova’s first exhibition venue in New Hampshire.

“It has been variably noted that while it is easy to focus solely on the social messages of her provocative works, it is important to take a step back to appreciate the artistic merit in Lukova’s simplicity,” says Sister Theresa Couture, pm, Director of the Art Gallery. “Her use of striking, metaphoric images gives the viewers art intended to produce an intellectual stimulus and an emotional impact that emerge from her overall mastery of the language of visual communication design.”

immigrant
2008
With this print from her Social Justice portfolio, Lukova depicts the immigrant using a moving visual metaphor of a grafted tree as a human, a person who has changed his/her roots but continues to grow in a new place.

The Luba Lukova: Designing Justice exhibition is free and open to the public from January 31 – March 3. Masks are required.

GALLERY HOURS and LOCATION

Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Memorial Hall on the Rivier University campus
(Access by elevator and six low steps.)

435 South Main St., Nashua, NH

For exhibition updates, patrons are encouraged to visit the Art Gallery website at www.rivier.edu/artgallery, call (603) 897-8280, or email artgallery@rivier.edu.