Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Luna James.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m currently based in Los Angeles CA, working as a digital art director for FOX Studios in the area of design and marketing. I was born in Ciudad Juarez, the wild and history-rich border town situated on the fragile line between Mexico and the U.S. In 2001, I relocated to Guadalajara to study, and I got in love with the folklore of the culture. Few years after I graduated from one of Mexico’s most prestigious universities in design, the Jesuit College (ITESO).
From a very early age, I knew that art was going to be part of my life. In my mind, design was the closest thing to art, and in some way, it was something more “formal” and less “bohemian,” as it is presented in society and the way I was raised in my Mexican culture.
After finish college, my wife at that time, my girlfriend, became pregnant and we moved to live at Paso TX close to my family, this way my daughter could be born in the USA and also see the possibility of getting a job and stay on the border, where I am originally from. After several months my daughter was born, I was forced to look for a better future for myself and my family. My first option was to come to LA since childhood, I had the illusion of working in the entertainment world as an illustrator or doing something related to film production.
At that time there was no iPhone or Google Maps, the internet was not what it is right now, so I did a research on places where I would like to work, I fill my car with food cans, grab a printed map and I promised my wife I was going to get a job and I was going to bring them with me, in my mind I was thinking, if im good enough(like a thought I was), I can get a job, believe me I was scared to death as well, you can imagine, leaving your country for a dream? and leaving the most precious thing in life, family? Sounds crazy and it is but at the same time, I felt like I can make it, and two weeks later I got my first job, and 2 months later I brought my wife and daughter with me. To be honest, at that time was very difficult, coming from another country and without a family to support us here, was very difficult. Little by little over time everything started to move forward.
After seven years of dedicating myself to work as an art director, focused on my profession doing design, motion graphics and animation in marketing media for movies and TV shows.
One day reflecting about life I felt that something was missing from my professional life and that despite being so fortunate to work in the medium I study, I did not want to live my entire life in an office working for someone else. I needed to fill my spirit with my passion, the true art and I needed to return to what I had lost, what really made me study what I studied and what made me feel free. Freedom is one of the most precious things in life.
I consider myself an artist that comes from traditional background; I thought that if I returned to arts, I do not want to go back to just painting, I wanted to do something different, that had to do with what I did professionally (design animation) and my passion, painting.
With a little bit of budget I got submerged completely and started experimenting, I was decided that if I wanted to change the way of living and if I really want to dedicate myself to my passion, I had to commit and sacrifice many things for this dream. In my mind, I knew that I had to find a formula that represented me and re-invented my work in a unique way.
You had to have something distinctive in order to excel in today’s art world, with great artists, conceptual and quality, plus all the established artist career, what can I do to stand out among such great artistic quality? With this motivation I interned for many nights in my studio after work, weekends and holidays, every free time I had was dedicated to this dream, and little by little this idea was transformed to what it is today.
In the last five years, I have presented my work in several group shows, including art fairs such as LA Art Show in Los Angeles, SCOPE Art Show Miami, and The Other Art Fair.
Please tell us about your art. What do you do/make/ create?
I define my work as Digital & Mixed Media Installation. I love science fiction and fantasy and the intervention between the virtual and physical space through art, consciousness, and technology with the means of sculpture, video projection, animation, and sound design.
Interested in the realms of reality and simulations, fascinated by states of consciousness such as dreaming, trance, hypnosis, creativity, and psychedelic drugs, I use these transcendental experiences as an inspiration for my work. In it, I like to explore concepts of cultural hybridization as a way of empathy and migration to explore my visions of “utopia”. I intend to explore these idea by blending the virtual with the physical space.
How?
I have create MGOGLKTKO a fictional character from light years away, a race that was able to alter their genetic to adapt through time, until became human hybrids, with the power to fuse into beasts, a mixed of animals with superpowers. It is an unending storytelling, the combination of physical sculptures with virtual/digital elements, creates an experience of an extended reality.
Why?
Having the opportunity to create worlds from your imagination its something special and have the chance to share it is priceless. At the same time we live in a very special time period, technology; it is part of our life, we consume technology, everyday. As a tool it allows us to carry out to unimaginable paths with endless of possibilities, now we are not just tied to a drawing, painting or sculpture, now this graphics can become tridimensional with movement, sound and in some instances human interaction, this art form and storytelling becomes more immersive and experiential.
What’s the message or inspiration, what do you hope people take away from it?
Don’t look for the easy, quick turn, play the game of life. Pursue your dreams (I’m still doing it)through light and darkness, no matter how difficult it looks you can always find the way to make things happened if you really put the time and commit to what you really love.
What should we know about your artwork?
My intent is, to create links between the virtual space that is equipped in our consciousness universe and bring it into tangible environments, using computer-generated imagery and techniques such as video, projection mapping, sculpture, and sound. I attempt to re-interpret transcendental experiences for inspiration on my work, and affect space/objects in order to explore it’s alternate realities as well as how other individuals perceive them.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Experiment, play the game, learn from losses and don’t waste time.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
In the last five years, I have presented my work in several group shows, including art fairs such as LA Art Show in Los Angeles, SCOPE Art Show Miami, and The Other Art Fair.
People can find my most recent work in Facebook and Instagram; I preferred Instagram because it just works perfect for me, it’s a great platform to showcase your work.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.magogalaktiko.com/
- Email: magogalaktiko@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mgoglktko/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mgoglaktko/
Image Credit:
Aaron Watkins
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