About

Born in 1996 in Guadalajara, Mexico, Luna de Jesús Licea is a self-taught Artist currently based in Los Angeles, California. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 10, moving frequently before settling in Yakima, Washington, where he spent his formative years. Licea envisioned a career in culinary arts, one that later transitioned into graphic design, where freelance work opened the door to a deeper exploration of visual storytelling through Oil painting. Since committing to painting in 2021, Luna has continued to develop a practice rooted in Community, identity, and cultural preservation and development.

In 2022, he completed his first collection, Growing Pains, a series that marked the beginning of his formal exploration into personal and cultural themes. Between 2023 and 2024, he worked on "I'm More of a Dreamer," a body of work that was independently exhibited in Los Angeles in the fall of 2024. Most recently, he participated in his first group show with Long Beach Creative Group, and a Q&A feature with the NYC-based Selfless Art Gallery offered an in-depth look into his creative process and evolving practice..

Statement

Luna de Jesús Licea’s work carves out a visual future untethered from the chaos of modern life—a future that moves slower, feels deeper, and stays rooted in ancestral memory. Through oil paintings, sketches, and paper-mâché sculptures, Licea builds a visual language grounded in four core pillars: the contemporization of pre-Hispanic and Jalisco-inspired clothing and jewelry; the use of bright colors and bold patterns that honor land and nature; the portrayal of characters who exist beyond rigid binaries; and the romanticization of intimate, communal moments.

These pillars serve as a foundation to imagine a world where sustainability, culture, resistance, and community are central—not sidelined. Licea’s work challenges the toxic dress codes and rigid norms imposed by colonization, aiming instead to revive the gender fluidity and cultural complexity that existed long before. Each piece becomes an invitation to reimagine identity and belonging, not as fixed categories but as living, evolving relationships.

In rejecting mass production, digital validation, and the acceleration of modern life, Licea offers an alternative: a return to land-based knowledge, slower rhythms, and ancestral teachings. This body of work is not just a critique of the present—it is an offering toward a different future. One where true progress is measured not by technological advancement, but by the depth of our connection to ourselves, each other, and the cultures that shape us.