In 2019, the New Orleans Museum of Art commissioned Philadelphia-based artist Roberto Lugo to create “Stunting,” a set of three ceramic pots inspired by NOMA’s traditional collection. Best known for cultural mash-ups that blend contemporary social issues with traditional porcelain pottery, Lugo’s powerful commentary on poverty, inequality, and racial injustice has made him a defining artist for our moment.

Artist’s Statement:

“Stunting” Garniture Set references influential members of the Black New Orleans community in American society, highlighting the visual connection between hip-hop “bling” and Sèvres porcelain in NOMA’s collection. Lil Wayne is considered the most influential hip-hop artist of the last decade. His public image is heavily embellished with measuring success by excessive wealth and glorifying gang violence. The gold tank represents No Limit Soldiers, the 1990s hip-hop artists responsible for coining the sound of “southern rap.” Jazz legend Louis Armstrong is beloved by a much broader audience. By placing these figures together, I am able to examine more closely how to bring the hip-hop community to the forefront.

About the Artist

Roberto Lugo is an American artist, ceramicist, social activist, spoken-word poet, and educator. Lugo uses porcelain, a traditionally precious material, as his medium of choice, illuminating its aristocratic surface with a twenty-first-century street sensibility. He paints traditional Asian and European porcelain forms by hand with classic decorative patterns laced with elements of urban graffiti. Lugo’s pots highlight portraits of individuals whose faces are historically absent on this type of luxury item—people like Sojourner Truth, Dr. Cornel West, The Notorious BIG, and very often the artist himself.
Born in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia to Puerto Rican parents, Lugo was a graffiti artist before taking his first pottery class at age 25. The artist holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Penn State, and is currently Associate Professor and Head of Ceramics at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. In 2019, Roberto Lugo became the first ceramicist to win the prestigious Rome Prize.