.

. [Retun to the Mark Luca Portfolio]         MARK LUCA Mark Luca was born in San Francisco where he studied art at San Francisco State (John Gutmann among his teachers). He also studied art in New York City (Cooper Union, Columbia U. and the Art Students League) and Mexico City (under a fellowship). At the Art Students League George Grosz showed how art can be a powerful tool in revealing the evils of dictatorship. His work has been exhibited in art museums in San Francisco (Invitational at the Legion of Honor), Oakland Museum and U.C. Berkeley. Mark Luca has had over 40 one-artist exhibits in California, New York City, Canada, Africa and South America. His work is in private and public collections (including several prints in the Achenbach Collection). He is listed in Who's Who in American Art from 1989 to the present. In many of his works, military solutions are questioned. For example: "Civil War" (where civilians are victimized), "The General" (who has the license to kill), "The Scream Goes On" (where Munch's screams continue in civil strife and war), and "Escalator" (where people yield themselves to the machine). But Mark Luca has hope for the future, if the spirit of art is allowed to continue, and if the countries of the world are allowed to join together in a cooperative unity. In the RELIEF prints ("Mark Twain"), acrylic is applied to the surface of a Masonite backing to established the image as a raised surface. Ink is applied to the plate with a brayer. Paper is placed over the inked plate and run through an etching press. On certain prints ("Langston Hughes", "The General", and "The Scream Goes On I") watercolor is applied, after the prints are dry, with brush by hand. In the ETCHING and ENGRAVING prints ("Escalator" and "Rest Home") the image is established by taking away from the surface of the metal plate with chemical action (etching) and by an electric vibrating tool (engraving). In ENGRAVING ("Civil War") the image is made with an electric engraving tool. The plate is rubbed with etching ink and with the paper on top, run through an etching press. With PHOTO-ETCH ("Memory of Things Past") an arrangement of photographic negatives is projected from an enlarger onto a metal plate that has been chemically treated. The image is chemically etched unto the surface of the plate. In an additional process, the image is altered with an electric engraving tool. Etching ink is rubbed into the groves, paper on top and run through an etching press. In the LITHOGRAPHIC process ("Lotto"), the image is drawn with a grease pencil on a metal (rather than a stone) plate. The plate is moistened with water and inked with a roller. Only the grease-image is able to received the ink. The paper is placed on top of the inked plate and run through a lithographic press. [Mark Luca Portfolio | Top]