Roberto Lugo : ghetto is resourceful

Lugo’s work reveals a different side of American history, informed by his experience growing up in a hard-working, tight-knit Puerto Rican family in the Kensington neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Working with porcelain—a traditionally precious material associated with European aristocratic opulence and imperial wealth—Lugo brandishes the surfaces of his vessels with images of poverty, inequality, and social and racial injustice. This catalog of his most recent works was published in 2021 by Wexler Gallery. The title is taken from a 2014 performance piece of the same name, in which Lugo fashioned a makeshift potter’s wheel in an abandoned lot in South Philly from discarded, found scraps and threw a clay vessel made from the surrounding dirt mixed with the liquid from a 40oz bottle of malt liquor. The photographs in this volume showcase Lugo’s impressive vessels against a stark white background as well as installation views from some of his various exhibitions. One of Lugo’s pieces (not included in this publication) is featured in the long-term installation, "Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room," on view at The Met in Gallery 508.