About

Inspired by pedagogy, Ways of Knowing investigates how learning processes feed into systemic ways of thinking that dictate society’s relationships to land, property, and boundaries. Luciano Pimienta considers land in terms of commodity rather than something of the commons and the symbolism used to solicit the boundaries of ownership. Pimienta questions why we prescribe to ideas of property, where the borders of what is someone’s and their neighbor’s stop and start, and how these concepts influence lived experiences of space. 

Pimienta uses signage to create recognizable signifiers that indicate who is an insider or outsider. He challenges these notions of inclusion and exclusion by playing with temporalities in his mediums. Clay in the gallery is found in different stages of being: dissolving unfired clay sculptures, silkscreened raw clay on the wall, wall paintings of clay slip, and fired clay sculptures. His clay works are placed with living carved nopal cacti that personify the land but also delineate perimeters and beautify property. All of these works are juxtapositions of the signage they embody. The ephemerality or longevity of each work blurs the lines of what we see or how we expect them to function and destabilizes the conditioned ways of thinking about belonging.  

Pimienta was born in Los Angeles, CA in 1983, currently is lives and works in San Diego. He has an MFA from San Diego State University and a BFA from Alfred University, NY. He has exhibited at the Kellogg Art Gallery in Pomona, CA; Park Exhibition Center, Idyllwild, CA; The Front Arte Cultura, San Ysidro, CA; ArtSpace, Richmond, VA; SDSU Downtown Gallery, San Diego, CA, and the Clay Center of New Orleans, LA amongst others.

This project is generously supported by