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Three Trees
solo show
Walsh Metal Works Gallery
January 22 - February 5
2005

Luca's latest solo exhibition “Three Trees” is scheduled to open on January 22nd, 2005 with a reception from 5pm–9pm at the Walsh Metal Works Gallery in Peters Rest, St. Croix. The show encompasses both new and older works, and explores how people become rooted in a place and feel a sense of home.

Spiny Crops
detail from watercolor
16 1/8 x 12 1/4"
St. Croix, 2004

One of Luca's new watercolors to be featured at his solo exhibition in January 2005.

Luca, a native of St. Croix, has been showing his work for over fourteen years in local venues and abroad. He is well known for his watercolors depicting the landscapes of St. Croix, its people and local life. The poster image for this exhibition depicts trees from the landscapes of St. Croix, Italy and Bermuda: where the artist was born, where his parents are from, and where he spent substantial time pursuing his painting career, respectively.

Details from three watercolors created the poster design for the exhibition. All three paintings will be on display at the show.

Luca has exhibited his work on St. Croix, in New York City, in his parents' native Italy, and in Bermuda where he co-created a 400 page illustrated book of place names on the island, and completed an art residency for the Masterworks program.

Dust jacket cover, The Bermuda Atlas & Gazetteer

Luca is the artist behind the popular "Taste Of St. Croix" posters and most recently showed paintings and sculptural works in his last solo show "Late Afternoons" at Walsh Metal Works Gallery in June of 2002. "Three Trees" promises a return for the artist to painting styles his collectors are familiar with, and a continued mingling of his farming passion, with live trees as part of the exhibition.

In "Three Trees," Luca will be showing new watercolors and some paintings created over a span of the last decade that have never been shown. Luca's work is largely inspired by nature, and this show expands on his characteristic paintings of St. Croix with sojourns in Bermuda and Italy, where the artist has spent extended periods with family and friends. "This show is a metaphor for three places I’ve spent lots of time in," the artist states. "I love my home island of St. Croix but when I visit other familiar places like Lake Como in Northern Italy, or the island of Bermuda, I feel torn – a piece of me stays in these places." Most of Luca's work aligns with his passion for agriculture and wildlands, instead of focusing on postcard sights. Many of the paintings in this collection depict subtle differences and similarities in farm and wildland areas as seen by a farmer abroad. "Trees are markers that speak to me of time’s effect on a place, of man’s influence – the grouping of trees in nature, how they are maintained and managed or not." Other images describe metaphorical roots: mysterious Mother Nature figures and surreal, iconic still life compositions of souvenirs from the artist’s collection.

In the islands, many residents come from somewhere else. Even those "bahn heah" often have family ties to other islands or other continents. "Home can be born to you, or it can be your conscious choice to make your home somewhere," the artist explains. "You can’t help yourself when you feel connected to a place."

After studying painting under Cindy Male at Good Hope School and watercolors under the late Bud Hawes, Luca completed a bachelor's degree in Communication Design at Parsons School of Design in 1994, and worked professionally for several years in New York City, with frequent visits to Bermuda where he designed and illustrated the 400 page Bermuda Atlas & Gazetteer. Before returning home to live on St. Croix, Luca pursued a farming internship on an organic farm in upstate New York. Currently, he balances his time between co-managing operations at Southgate Farms on St. Croix's east end and painting. He and his wife were married this year underneath a giant tamarind tree on St. Croix’s south shore.

"Three Trees" will be on exhibit from Saturday, January 22nd through Saturday, February 5th, 2005 at the Walsh Metal Works Gallery. The opening reception for the show is Saturday, January 22nd, from 5 to 9pm. Gallery hours are 10am – 4pm Monday through Saturday, or by appointment. For more information, call the gallery at (340)773-8169.

Read a review of Luca's work by the Bermuda Sun.

Visit the official website for the Bermuda Atlas & Gazetteer, a book that Luca has designed and illustrated.