Emil Lukas and Chris Soal at ZⓈONAMACO 2026
Booth C122
We are pleased to present a duo presentation by Emil Lukas and Chris Soal at ZⓈONAMACO 2026. Following his first institutional solo exhibition at the Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo (MAXXI) in Rome, Soal presents a selection of amorphous toothpick sculptures alongside sand-disc works, further advancing his investigations into sandpaper as both a vehicle for image-making and a site of sculptural presence.
In dialogue with Soal, American sculptor Emil Lukas, recognized for his rigorous explorations of thread, cast surfaces, and light, presents new works following his debut Miami solo exhibition, currently on view at Piero Atchugarry Gallery Miami. Like Soal’s, Lukas’s works transform everyday materials into complex perceptual experiences. Together, their practices establish a resonant exchange between two generations, united by a shared commitment to material transformation and sensory inquiry.
In our viewing room, we also present works by Radenko Milak, Eva Olivetti, and Jorge Riveros. Learn more here.
ARTSEEN - The Brooklyn Rail
Emil Lukas: Infinite Edge
By Farren Fei Yuan
Installation view: Emil Lukas: Infinite Edge, Sperone Westwater, New York, 2025. Courtesy Sperone Westwater.
“Emil Lukas’s fifth solo exhibition at Sperone Westwater presents the viewer with two floors of shape-shifting optical structures that unsettle the relation between seeing and knowing. Pacing around the works, perplexed by the dizzying sights before me, I was made acutely aware of the embodied nature of vision—the physiological orchestration of light, retina, eye muscles, and nerve signals, all subject to interference and failure. To regain stability I stood back from the display, and, satisfyingly, fragments cohered once again into atmospheric images that evoked cosmic forms and landscapes.”
Artist Interview - Emil Lukas By Brainard Carey
WYBCX Yale Radio
Use the link above to access the interview or play via the audio link below.
6 February – 15 March 2025
Public Reception: Thursday, 6 February, 5–7pm
Press Release
Sperone Westwater is pleased to present new work by Emil Lukas. His fifth solo exhibition at the gallery is comprised of paintings and works on paper utilizing materials which have characterized his practice: thread, acrylic, ink and larvae.
Lukas’ circular thread paintings, Fuse and Collision (each 60 inches in diameter) combine an actively painted reflector behind an accumulation of thread. Stacking layers to encourage closer inspection, the artist poses the questions ‘do we look at or into a work of art?’ The threads create an illuminated atmosphere which quietly hums with optical vibrations. “The most important process is when a work of art enters the eye and goes to the brain,” says Lukas.
The ink-and-graphite works on paper combine the artist’s signature larvae drawings with a technique that mimics wet plate photography. “I dive into old black and white photographs to find the truth,” says Lukas. “Investigating perspective and representational drawing is a lifelong interest.”
The artist’s new series of lattice paintings, including Glass in Moving Water, explores what happens when we process two complementary paintings at the same time. The artist creates an underpainting on the canvas, then layers a second composition on a raised pattern of dots. The combined acrylic-on-canvas works engage the viewers’ position and distance in the surrounding architecture of the gallery.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1964, Emil Lukas has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad. Solo museum shows include “Emil Lukas: Connection to the Curious,” The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2005); “Emil Lukas,” The Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC (2005); “Things with Wings,” The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA (2005); “Moderate Climate and the Bitter Bison,” Hunterdon Museum, Hunterdon, NJ (2008); “Emil Lukas,” Morris Gallery at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia (2016); “Emil Lukas: Entre dos líneas tenues,” Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Atchugarry, Uruguay (2023) and “Emil Lukas: Four Modes,” Lafayette College Art Galleries, Easton, PA (2023). His work is in important private and public collections, including the Panza Collection, Italy; the Dakis Joannou Collection, Greece; Margulies Collection, Miami; Allentown Art Museum, PA; the Anderson Collection at Stanford University; Baltimore Museum of Art; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San José Museum of Art; UBS Art Collection; and Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC.
For sales inquiries, please contact sales@speronewestwater.com.
Emil Lukas: The Narration of Light
The Gracis gallery of Milan and the Photo&Contemporary gallery of Turin are pleased to invite you to the opening of Emil Lukas: The Narration of Light, the new solo exhibition of the artist, Emil Lukas (Pittsburgh, 1964), on September 20th, from 6 pm.
The artist works upon the mechanisms of perception, thus accumulating signs, elements and materials which, although of a certain intrinsic abundance, tend to dissolve their very structure into something lighter, celestial and spiritual. Lukas' distinctive use of daily organic materials, such as thread, plaster, larvae, and water soluble paints, as well as his innovative techniques, all contribute towards the creation of Intricate works that involve the spectator in both an intimate and a contemplative way.
In his works, Lukas juxtaposes patterns and situations of variation, expansion and, in doing so, he reflects the Nature and the Beauty that grow out of chaos and daily life. His language fuses together action with thought. His work is the process through which the actual work itself finds accomplishment.
To learn more visit: http://galleriagracis.com/it/mostre/emil-lukas/
Time To Visit Piero Atchugarry Gallery
A Tribute to 50 Years of Studio la Citta
Emil discusses his work with Cricket Taplin & Robin Hill (Photo by Betty McGhee, Piero Atchugarry Gallery)
Piero Atchugarry, a 4,500 square foot contemporary and modern art gallery has been hiding out in plain sight since late 2018. Its second gallery location can be found within the boundaries of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood (the first resides in Uruguay) representing artists from Brazil, Cuba, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Uruguay, United States and Venezuela.
The Relationship Between the Environment and Minimal Art Explored at Hauser & Wirth
Full article available here: https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/the-panza-collection-hauser-wirth
Giuseppe Panza was a pioneering figure who started assembling his collection around 1954 after visiting the United States for the first time. This is where he encountered abstract expressionists and over the years, became fascinated with Pop, Minimalism, environmental art, and Conceptualism. Throughout the years, together with his wife Giovanna, Panza has gathered some 2,500 works that were held in their 18th-century home in Varese Villa Menafoglia Litta, outside Milan.
Emil Lukas - On the Edge of Ice (8 double sided panels, 28 double sided drawings), 1993. Mixed materials 182.8 x 101.6 x 36 cm / 72 x 40 x 14 1/8 in © Emil Lukas. Courtesy the Panza Collection and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Alessandro Zambianchi
Emil Lukas @ Hosfelt - Squarecylinder.com
https://www.squarecylinder.com/2018/05/emil-lukas-hosfelt-2/
Posted on 24 May 2018
by Jake Weigel
"Emil Lukas has the alchemical gift of transforming common materials into objects that display a keen sense of the sublime. His current exhibition, Twin Orbit, offers further insight into his understanding of the principles of nature at various levels. True to the traditions of Minimalism, the Light and Space movement and philosophy, Lukas eloquently connects disparate areas of inquiry as they relate to space, time, light and the human experience. His works serve as metaphors for an all-encompassing view of the structured world, visible and invisible. For this exhibition, Lukas culled pieces from three bodies of work: Bubbles, Threads and Lens, all made during the past two years." ...