Kristy Luck
At once dynamic and organic, rich and transcendent, Kristy Luck’s (b. 1985, Woodstock, IL) paintings embody the artist’s practice of surrealism viewed through the lens of spiritual abstraction. Luck’s luscious yet restrained palette and measured brush stroke reference the artist’s inward gaze — a deep inner probing interrogating identity, meaning, and figuration and relating to the constrictions and limits of time, space, and boundaries.
Luck’s ongoing exploration of the instability of language versus experience and image stems from the ambiguity of their family history. Luck’s mother was one of the vast numbers of Native Americans who survived the Sixties Scoop. Although they know their maternal lineage is from the Navajo Nation, broken connections and missing records have left an indelibly incomplete picture.
In Luck’s process, the fissures of understanding are not meant to be fixed, but rather expanded, increasing their volume and their intensifying color, serving as a poetic bridge connecting place and self. Luck’s work is currently featured in the Hammer biennial, “Made in L.A. 2025”, on view through March 1, 2026.
Luck received their BFA from Rockford University (Rockford, IL) in 2010 and their MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL) in 2014. Luck’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles; Franklin Parrasch Gallery (New York, NY), Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Mendes Wood DM (São Paulo, Brazil); and ODD ARK LA (Los Angeles, CA). Their work has been included in group shows at Marin Museum of Contemporary Art (San Rafael, CA); Robilant+Voena (New York, NY and Milan. IT); Sidecar (Los Angeles, CA); GRIMM (New York, NY); Analog Diary (Beacon, NY); Torrance Art Museum (Torrance, CA); Corbett vs. Dempsey (Chicago, IL); and Projet Pangée (Montreal, Canada), among others.
Select Works
Select Exhibitions
Kristy Luck: Ground for Assumptions, parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles, CA, October 11 - November 8, 2025.
Made in L.A. 2025, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, October 5, 2025 - March 1, 2026.
Close to the Verb, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, June 10 - July 8, 2023.
Select Press
2021
Osberg, Annabel. “Kristy Luck: Artforum Critics’ Picks,” Artforum, July 28, 2021.
2020
Maine, Stephen, and Robert Burnier. “Artists Quarantine With Their Art Collections,” Hyperallergic, June 6, 2020.
Ollman, Leah. “Internal and External Worlds Merge in Kristy Luck’s Atmospheric Paintings,” Art in America, February 11, 2020.
Knight, Christopher. “Body parts, color and landscape fuse in Kristy Luck’s art,” Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2020.
Osberg, Annabel. “Kristy Luck,” Artillery Magazine, January 22, 2020.
Preston Zappas, Lindsay. “Art Insider Jan 21: Color theory, Melancholia, political candle paintings,” KCRW, January 21, 2020.