SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) announces:The Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is pleased to present an artist talk with alumnus Alberto Lule. Lule is the recipient of the LUM Art Prize (Issue 6), presented by LUM Art Magazine with the support of the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation. We are pleased to co-present this program with both organizations.
Lule began making art while serving a thirteen-year sentence in a California prison. He uses readymades and mixed media installations to examine and critique mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex in the United States, particularly the California prison system. Starting from his origins as a graffiti artist and writer, Lule draws on his own experiences in prison to create artworks that explore institutional roles of gatekeepers of knowledge, authorities of culture, and administrators of discipline and punishment.
“Art made the prison walls disappear, allowing me to overcome not only the prison I was physically in but also the mental prison I had placed myself in before my sentence,” said Lule. “By focusing on how institutional systems operate, I have come to notice the similarities between all institutions, from institutions of higher learning to correctional institutions. These similarities can be exposed and learned from, not only from a scientific point of view, but even more thoroughly through art.”
Through his activist artworks, Lule brings awareness to the prison industrial complex, mass incarceration, and ICE camps. After serving his prison sentence, he enrolled in SBCC Transitions, a program providing guidance and access to college for individuals released from the criminal justice system. As a full-time student at SBCC, he excelled in his art classes and completed a prestigious internship with the SBCC Atkinson Gallery, sponsored by the SBCC Foundation. He graduated from SBCC in 2018 and was invited to be the student speaker at commencement. He transferred to UCLA, where he earned a BA in 2020 and worked at the Hammer Museum. He is currently enrolled at the University of California, Irvine, where he is earning a Master of Fine Arts degree.
He first joined the Underground Scholars — who help current and formerly incarcerated individuals pursue their education — in Santa Barbara while studying at SBCC, before going on to become co-chair of the Underground Scholars Initiative at UCLA. Lule is also active with XMAPS: In Plain Sight, a movement which brings awareness to ICE detention facilities by writing messages with an airplane above detention facilities.
Instagram: @tierrabuenatattoos
Website: www.albertolule.com
You can learn more at @undergroundscholarsinitiative and @bruinundergroundscholarson Instagram.
About LUM Art Magazine:
Lum is a Santa Barbara-based contemporary art magazine for California’s Central Coast. Lum is independent and founded on a collaborative and open approach to arts writing. We aim to seamlessly blend the clarity of journalism with the power of art criticism. Lum’s online space and print magazine provide a forum for critical conversations, advocacy and discovery around art.
About Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation:
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is committed to supporting and advocating the arts and sciences. Current initiatives include awards for visual artists, as well as The Ojai Institute, an artist-residency program in Ojai, that extends the dialogue between artists and the public through exhibitions and programs. Currently based in Ojai, California, the organization, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 2015 by artists, family, and friends to celebrate the legacy of esteemed art patron and private art dealer Carolyn Glasoe Bailey.
Atkinson Gallery Hours:
Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Friday, 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.
and by appointment
For more information and images please contact gallery director John Connelly jconnelly1@pipeline.sbcc.edu