Luis out side artist unofficial

The Vatican, The Tate, The Burrell collection and Scottish parliament

Luis: Visual Multi-Disciplinary Artist and Designer

Artistic Vision and Conceptual Approach

Luis is a visual artist whose creative practice emerges from dual wellsprings of passion and necessity, rooted in an unconventional educational journey that shaped his distinctive artistic philosophy. His approach transcends traditional boundaries, forging vital connections between fine art traditions, commercial animation, and product design for the 21st century marketplace. His methodology recalls the Bauhaus movement's revolutionary integration of arts, crafts, and design—yet he recalibrates this approach for our contemporary moment, addressing urgent ecological concerns and technological possibilities unforeseen by his predecessors. Like Leonardo da Vinci, whose notebooks revealed no meaningful distinction between artistic and scientific inquiry, Luis navigates fluidly between aesthetic expression and practical innovation. For him, the traditionally separated realms of beauty and utility, contemplation and action, tradition and technological advancement are not opposing forces but complementary aspects of an integrated creative vision.

Educational Foundation and Early Development

Luis's artistic journey began through an alternative path that reveals the limitations of conventional educational structures. Facing learning difficulties within traditional academic frameworks, he received the familiar assessment "dreamer could do better" while consistently excelling whenever art sessions were presented. He thrived in improvised sketches, acting, freeze painting, and cardboard model making—though these creative opportunities were disappointingly rare within the curriculum. Despite achieving first place in his year during high school, issues of boredom and personal safety arose at what was known as "Europe's most violent school." Prioritizing his wellbeing and intellectual development, Luis made the strategic choice to pursue home-based learning through "Television for Schools" and "Play for the Day"—educational programs that provided essential nourishment for his artistic mind.

This self-directed education proved remarkably prescient, particularly Jacques Cousteau's programs, which offered formative visual and archaeological experiences that would later inform his underwater archaeological pursuits. Equally significant were his walkabouts through the derelict landscapes of his city district, providing direct environmental education that shaped his future environmental activism. At 16, Luis held his first exhibition—featuring found object sculptures, monoprints, and fabric works—displayed in the family hallway with his mother's permission for "redecorating the family home." This early recognition of domestic space as legitimate gallery territory presaged his later interventions in institutional contexts.

By 18, he had become an elected trade union member, work that provided crucial insights into how people chose fabrics and patterns for their homes—observations that contrasted sharply with the abandoned interiors of tenement buildings he encountered in his urban explorations. Utilizing his developing craft skills, he installed interiors in luxurious domestic and retail premises, gaining professional experience while maintaining his artistic sensibilities. A chance meeting led to five years of formal study under fine art tutor David R. Taylor DA and Alex Lecki MA (head of ceramics at Glasgow School of Art), culminating in his first public exhibition of pit-fired pottery at Colin McCloud's Pollock Free State M74 Motorway protest—an early demonstration of his commitment to combining artistic practice with environmental activism.

Technical Versatility Across Media

Luis demonstrates exceptional fluency across an expansive range of artistic media and technical processes. His practice moves seamlessly between the tactile intimacy of hand-sculpted clay and the precise virtuality of 3D hard surface modelling, between time-honored ceramic firing techniques and cutting-edge rapid prototyping. This technical versatility encompasses sculpture, ceramics, animation, architectural design, performance art, bronze casting, textile work, and a comprehensive command of drawing and painting methodologies. His recent investigations into artificial intelligence—working with Large Language Models (LLMs), AI-generated imagery, and short films for marketing—reflect not merely an adoption of trending technologies but a thoughtful extension of his ongoing dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and emerging technological paradigms. This remarkable technical breadth allows Luis to select the most appropriate expressive vehicle for each creative challenge, transcending medium-specific limitations to realize his conceptual vision across multiple platforms and contexts.

Synthesis of Diverse Influences

Luis's creative voice emerges from a rich tapestry of seemingly disparate influences, woven together with remarkable coherence. His sculptural sensibility draws from Henry Moore's exploration of form and negative space, while his conceptual framework is informed by Jungian psychological archetypes. These foundations are enriched by cinematic influences—Kubrick's meticulous composition and Kurosawa's dynamic storytelling—which inform his approach to visual narrative. From Ian Hubert, he has adopted innovative production workflows that democratize creative processes, while Warhol's collapse of boundaries between art and commerce resonates in his marketing approaches. Rather than simply appropriating these influences, Luis has developed a distinctive visual language where sculptural form meets psychological depth, cinematic vision combines with technical innovation, and artistic integrity coexists with commercial viability. This sophisticated synthesis allows his work to operate simultaneously across multiple registers—conceptual and commercial, traditional and technological, personal and universal.

Underwater Explorations: Diving as Research and Practice

Luis's practice extends beyond terrestrial environments into aquatic realms, where his certified freediving and scuba skills enable direct engagement with underwater landscapes inaccessible to most observers. His approach to diving exemplifies his characteristic integration of professional expertise, scholarly research, creative practice, and community service. As a certificated underwater archaeologist, he has conducted systematic documentation of ancient crannogs—artificial island dwellings that represent significant archaeological sites in Scottish waterways. These expeditions function simultaneously as scientific research, historical preservation, and artistic inspiration, informing his understanding of human habitation patterns and architectural forms across millennia.

His diving practice extends to historically significant marine environments, including wreck diving expeditions to the scuttled First World War fleet at Scapa Flow—a direct encounter with monumental artifacts of naval warfare now transformed by marine ecology into hybrid structures of human engineering and natural reclamation. These underwater explorations provide Luis with unique perspectives on the intersection of military history, material decomposition, and environmental processes that inform his artistic sensibility and historical consciousness.

Beyond archaeological and historical diving, Luis has served as a security diver for events involving disabled war veterans, demonstrating his commitment to making aquatic experiences accessible to diverse participants while ensuring their safety. His explorations of protected and wild marine environments further reflect his environmental ethos, allowing him to witness firsthand both pristine underwater ecosystems and those under threat from human impact. These direct encounters with submarine landscapes—ranging from cultural heritage sites to living ecological systems—provide Luis with exceptional visual reference points and experiential knowledge that enrich his creative practice across media. His diving activities represent yet another dimension of his multifaceted approach to research, one that literally and figuratively immerses him in environments that most people experience only through mediated representations.

Cultural Icon: The Glasgow Banksy

The moniker "The Glasgow Banksy," bestowed by local authorities, acknowledges Luis's extraordinary impact on the city's visual landscape over three decades of prolific street art intervention. Unlike the comparison might suggest, however, Luis has cultivated a practice marked not by anonymity but by direct community engagement. His street works function as visual conversations with the public, transforming municipal spaces into galleries accessible to all citizens regardless of socioeconomic status or formal art education. Over time, these interventions have evolved beyond mere aesthetic contributions to become integral elements of Glasgow's cultural identity—visual landmarks that residents navigate by, gather around, and proudly introduce to visitors. Where other street artists might emphasize transgression or ephemerality, Luis has developed a relationship with the city characterized by sustained dialogue and mutual transformation, demonstrating how public art can simultaneously challenge institutional boundaries while fostering civic pride and community cohesion.

Environmental Activism Through Art and Design

Luis's environmental practice transcends conventional categorizations of "eco-art" to embody a comprehensive vision where aesthetic expression, ecological regeneration, and community nourishment become inseparable concerns. Following in Joseph Beuys' footsteps—who declared "everyone is an artist" and saw creative action as inherently political—Luis has established and contributed to numerous sensory and food gardens on spare ground and tenement back courts. throughout Glasgow's urban fabric. These living installations recall Agnes Denes' "Wheatfield" in their transformative reclamation of undervalued spaces, but extend beyond symbolic gesture into sustained ecological intervention. Each garden functions as a multisensory environment where biodiversity flourishes, sustainable food sources emerge, and therapeutic engagement with nature becomes accessible to community members. His garden designs represent a sophisticated synthesis where the boundary between artistic composition and ecological function dissolves, transforming neglected urban zones into vibrant communal resources that simultaneously address environmental degradation, food security, and the human need for sensory connection with the natural world.

Landmark Work: The Glasgow Venus of Strathclyde

"The Glasgow Venus of Strathclyde"—Luis's signature motif—exemplifies his radical approach to artistic intervention and institutional engagement. The work first gained prominence by transforming Glasgow's graffiti scene through its bold introduction of classical figurative study into street art contexts—a move so distinctive it took the city's street art community "by storm" and reportedly inspired the authentic Banksy to engage with Glasgow's graffiti scene. This underground success story demonstrates Luis's unique ability to bridge seemingly opposed artistic traditions, making classical forms relevant and accessible within contemporary urban environments.

What distinguishes Luis's approach, however, is his strategic opportunism in placing his work within elite institutional contexts not through conventional channels of artistic validation but through activism and resourceful intervention. When invited to the Vatican and the Church of Scotland—invitations extended not to showcase his art but to give voice to those who had experienced homelessness—Luis strategically seized these opportunities to unofficially place his Venus motif in these prestigious spaces. At the Vatican, he managed to install the work on the floor of St. Peter's and later transferred it to street graffiti walls along the Tiber River. Similarly, he placed the work inside the Scottish Parliament building during his visit there and the Tate while on holiday. These unauthorized installations represent a sophisticated form of artistic activism that utilizes social advocacy platforms to infiltrate institutions typically inaccessible to street art.

Perhaps the most remarkable instance of Luis's improvisational approach occurred during an international procession honoring the Holy Mother in Rome. In an extraordinary case of mistaken identity, Luis was confused for Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle—a serendipitous error he neither corrected nor exploited, but rather channelled into an unexpected artistic intervention. Seamlessly joining the sacred procession, Luis carried aloft a plain canvas triptych depicting his signature Venus motif in adoration of the Holy Mother. This bold juxtaposition of his contemporary Venus figure within one of Catholicism's most traditional ceremonies created a powerful dialogue between ancient veneration of the feminine divine and contemporary artistic expression. The incident epitomizes Luis's ability to transform chance circumstances into meaningful artistic moments that bridge sacred and secular, traditional and contemporary contexts.

This approach was further demonstrated in his interaction with Glasgow's Burrell Collection. While his street art had inspired the curator to organize the "Venus Rising" event—showcasing Venus works by classical masters—Luis's own work was relegated to the grounds outside and subsequently covered with soil by park management. In response to this institutional marginalization, Luis gifted small Venus figurines to both the security chief and the curator on the evening before the opening. This gesture simultaneously acknowledged his outsider status while subtly inserting his work into the institutional context through personal connection rather than formal channels.

These episodes reveal Luis's exceptional capacity to navigate and subvert the boundaries between street art and institutional spaces, between formal invitation and guerrilla intervention, between artistic expression and social activism. By consistently finding unexpected pathways to place his work in contexts from which street art is typically excluded, Luis challenges conventional hierarchies of artistic validation while expanding the potential venues for engagement with his Venus motif—a work that has now traversed the full spectrum from street corners to sacred spaces.

Movement and Performance: The Sonic Dimension

The kinetic dimension of Luis's artistic practice, informed by his engaging with Dance through Contact Improvisation, introduces a crucial temporal element to his creative expression. This embodied knowledge of movement fundamentally shapes both his sculptural work—where static forms suggest dynamic potential—and his approach to performance art, where the body becomes a primary expressive medium. His impromptu street theatre performances represent a particularly vital aspect of his practice, introducing a sonic dimension that transforms his visual installations into immersive multisensory experiences. These performances operate as dynamic counterpoints to his static visual works, adding layers of sound that provoke, startle, and amaze viewers—creating what he describes as "roller-coaster" emotional journeys.

What distinguishes these performances is their sophisticated engagement with contemporary political realities. Luis navigates the "big dippers and turnpikes of the current political environment" with remarkable agility, using sound and movement to articulate emotional responses to social conditions that might remain unexpressed in purely visual media. The performances function as affective barometers of the political climate, amplifying public sentiment through artistic expression and creating temporary communities united by shared emotional experience. His public readings, ranging from human rights declarations to Dostoevsky's intimate correspondence, transform literary texts from private mental experiences into embodied public encounters that resonate with immediate political concerns.

This integration of visual installation with performance creates a synaesthetic totality greater than the sum of its parts—where colour, form, and sound interact to produce complex emotional and intellectual responses. By adding this temporal, sonic dimension to his spatial interventions, Luis creates works that engage the full spectrum of human sensory experience while responding with immediacy to shifting political contexts. This approach reflects his commitment to dissolving artificial boundaries between artistic disciplines, between aesthetic and political concerns, between the intellectual and the sensory, between the preserved text and the living voice.

Cross-Disciplinary Integration

Luis's practice offers a compelling contemporary response to the increasing fragmentation of knowledge and experience in modern society. Like the Renaissance ideal of the artist-scientist-inventor, he moves fluidly between domains typically treated as separate or even opposed: traditional handicraft and digital fabrication, fine art and commercial application, physical object-making and conceptual exploration. His background in traditional sculpture informs his approach to digital 3D hard surface modelling, while his understanding of classical forms enriches his contemporary design work. His recent explorations in artificial intelligence represent not a deviation from his established practice but its natural evolution—investigating the creative potential of algorithmic systems while bringing his refined artistic sensibility to these emerging technological domains. What distinguishes Luis's cross-disciplinary approach is not merely its breadth but its integration; rather than working separately in multiple fields, he creates work where these various disciplines inform and transform each other, resulting in creations that could not have emerged from any single domain in isolation.

Community Engagement and Social Impact

Luis's three decades of community engagement reflect a profound understanding of art's potential as a catalyst for social transformation. Like a butterfly, he has outreached and shared skills across 25 years of community projects while maintaining unwavering environmental principles—abstaining from flying, driving, and buying new items as part of his commitment to sustainable living. Echoing Joseph Beuys' concept of "social sculpture"—where society itself becomes material to be shaped through creative action—Luis has dedicated himself to "bringing forth community" through diverse initiatives. His workshops in physical, fine art, and industrial processes create accessible entry points for community members of all backgrounds to experience the empowerment of creative making. His public art installations and gardens establish common spaces where diverse populations can gather, interact, and form unexpected connections.

His recent sculptural work paying homage to fellow Earth activist Starhawk exemplifies this integration of artistic practice with environmental activism. Starhawk—an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, founder of Earth Activist Training, and one of the most respected voices in modern Goddess religion and earth-based spirituality, author of twelve books including "The Spiral Dance" and "The Fifth Sacred Thing"—has profoundly influenced Luis's practice. Using street cobblestones removed by developers installing power lines, Luis transformed these displaced materials on open ground (previously green space) to form a "Strathclyde Spiral." This work communicates reverence for Starhawk's contributions to spiral symbolism and neopagan Earth-based practices, creating what he describes as an intercontinental petroglyph.

The organic nature of this spiral installation invites further possibilities for ceremonial engagement, potentially incorporating dance incantations in collaboration with Penny Chivas, a dance artist from Ngunnawal Country, Australia living in Glasgow. Chivas works without prejudice organising and promoting dance for health, performance, and recreation from an environmental perspective, suggesting potential synergies with Luis's interdisciplinary approach.

This community work is not separate from his artistic practice but integral to it—a manifestation of his belief that creativity is not the privileged domain of professional artists but a fundamental human capacity whose cultivation enhances individual and collective wellbeing. Through this sustained commitment, Luis demonstrates how artists can function not merely as producers of aesthetic objects but as facilitators of positive social change and ecological regeneration.

Professional Evolution

Luis's artistic journey reveals a remarkable capacity for evolution and reinvention while maintaining core values and concerns. From his early work in traditional fine art and provocative street interventions to his current explorations in digital technologies, institutional collaboration, and ecological design, his practice demonstrates both continuity and transformation. His recent engagement with artificial intelligence for marketing and creative applications reflects not a trend-following impulse but a consistent pursuit of innovative approaches to perennial artistic questions. This ability to adopt new methodologies while preserving essential artistic principles allows Luis to remain relevant across changing cultural landscapes and technological paradigms. Perhaps most significantly, his conscious development of creative pathways that will remain viable throughout his advancing years reveals a strategic approach to artistic practice—one that acknowledges physical realities while ensuring continued creative vitality and community contribution regardless of personal circumstances.

Holistic Approach to Creation and Well-being

At the foundation of Luis's diverse practice lies a profoundly holistic understanding of creativity as inseparable from overall well-being, psychological integration, and ecological responsibility. Rejecting the Western tradition's tendency to separate mind from body, reason from emotion, and human from nature, he cultivates a unified approach where creative expression emerges from and contributes to the wholeness of both individual and community. His understanding of the intimate relationships between natural environments, physical activity, mental health, and creative output informs both his personal artistic process and his educational philosophy. The result is work that functions simultaneously across multiple dimensions—aesthetically sophisticated, psychologically resonant, socially engaged, and ecologically responsible. This integrated approach positions Luis as an exemplar of what artistic practice can be in our fragmented age: not merely the production of commodifiable objects or experiences, but a comprehensive way of being in the world that nurtures connection, meaning, and sustainable flourishing.