April 3rd, 2024

Carlos Luna's Participation at the Ideas Festival

By MoCA-Americas Team

Renowned Cuban and international aesthete, a master of multiple artistic mediums with a significant Mexican influence, Carlos Luna showcased "I Choose to Be Free" at the third edition of the Ideas Festival, Puebla 2024, Creative Explosion. The Ideas Festival is held annually at the Metropolitan Auditorium of Puebla, Mexico, since 2022. This event, an initiative by the Ricardo B. Salinas Center, gathers prominent figures in contemporary thought who share their insights on freedom, prosperity, education, economy, innovation, health, and leadership, aiming to inspire the audience. Under the theme "Creative Explosion," the third edition of the Festival took place on March 7, 8, and 9, 2024. Today, the festival stands as a significant forum in Latin America, offering an opportunity to explore one of Mexico's culturally and historically rich states and to foster connections with students, businesspeople, professionals, teachers, and researchers, thus creating networks of mutual collaboration. In this way, the Ideas Festival challenges its attendees, inviting them to transform their worldview, expand their horizons, and create a more prosperous and free life.

During his approximately fifteen-minute speech, Carlos Luna, one of the most important Latin American artists of his generation with a meteoric career and a well-defined personal style, shared a brief recount of his life experiences. He talked about his arrival in Mexico and how, in the early '90s, just before turning twenty, he was able to continue his artistic journey in Monterrey after being hired by one of its most important galleries. He mentioned his move to Mexico City, where he met Claudia Catalina, whom he married in Puebla in 1992. In 2000, Carlos received the EB-1 visa, a first-preference immigrant visa for the United States, designed for individuals with extraordinary abilities in specific fields. This visa allows highly skilled individuals in the arts, sciences, education, business, or sports, who have achieved national or international acclaim and success, to apply for permanent residency or the "green card" in the United States without the need for a specific job offer. This enabled him to quickly access the world's most demanding art circuits. Evidence of this is his participation in over 200 exhibitions in museums and notable institutions including Pablo Picasso Ceramics | Carlos Luna Paintings at NSU Art Museum | Fort Lauderdale, Reading Public Museum, Museum of Latin American Art, Frost Art Museum, Bass Museum of Art, American University Museum, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Polk Museum of Art, Susquehanna Art Museum, among others. Luna expressed his deep admiration for Mexico, its culture, its artists, and its influences.