MEL LUNA

(b. 1997) is a Bronx based artist from Dominican Republic. Luna uses mylar instead of traditional canvas, which not only introduces the viewer but also distorts them amongst hyperreal painted imagery.

Luna graduated with a BFA from Pratt Institute in 2019.

“Seeing hundreds of images a day create an overly saturated library in my head. I can't seem to separate a meme I saw a couple days ago with a painting from years ago then linking it to a commercial. I live in a rat race that denies the real-time. I have come to the conclusion that I will never create original content due to this library. "There is nothing new under the sun". I have battled with this saying for the past four years since I've started painting. What about the Proxima Centauri? The nearest star/sun to us. Whats under that light? New laws of physics? Gaseous matter? a new color? We have probably seen billions of images in our lifetime that subconsciously affect our lives, so coming up with a new color is like reinventing the wheel. It is impossible but I'm like many others that came before me. A tamed dreamer. I'm searching for density and to avoid a reference point. Mylar has allowed me to look at myself and others with a distorted lens and I truly feel "I'm on to something new" -a stranger has said. More than ever I feel dense enough to challenge this saying and become the conquistador myself of a new sun and a completely new soil.”