A self-taught oil painter, Luke Anderson has shown work at museums and in acclaimed exhibitions, including the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming, the Springville Art Museum in Springville, Utah, and the Coors Western Art Show in Denver, Colorado. He won the award for best oil painting at the Western Spirit Show at the 2020 Old West Museum in Cheyenne, Wyoming, received jurors’ top scoring marks at the 2019 Bash & Ball Auction at the Nicolaysen Art Museum, and was awarded an honorable mention at the 2020 Annual Salon at the Springville Museum of Art. He is represented by Visions West Contemporary in Bozeman, Montana, Meyer Gallery in Park City, Utah, and Deselms Fine Art in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Originally from Cheyenne, Wyoming, Anderson lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Listen to our interview with Luke.
Statement
“I have spent my entire life in the West, but I didn’t always have an appreciation for the places and spaces around which I grew up. My formative years weren’t particularly Western – I didn’t attend many rodeos, I wasn’t an avid outdoorsman, and didn’t own a pair of cowboy boots until I was in my 20s. It wasn’t until I started my environmental studies program in college that I really started to actively pay attention to the landscapes and cultures around me and how they are interconnected. The West is now a cornerstone to my identity.
“My paintings are the primary way in which I discover and try to understand the region where I live. Most of my work is built on themes of human perception, the boundaries and possibilities of our senses, and the importance of memory, both individual and collective, and how it shapes cultural understandings of place. I like to use common Western imagery and symbolism to create conceptual works that are Western in aesthetic but employ themes that are widely applicable to the American experience. I feel compelled as an artist to express how this absolutely one-of-a-kind place has the ability to profoundly impact all those who exist within it, whether we are aware of it or not.”
– Luke Anderson