statement
Searching for specificity in abstraction, my work begins with discarded scraps, matter that is a byproduct of construction or a casualty of time. All matter used to be something else before it was this and will become something else after it’s done being this. All making is unmaking.
I collect batches of these scraps, alter their shape or color, and arrange them using shifting systems of spatial and visual logic. If I stack something to move it aside, the arrangement will be different than if I’m sorting by shape or setting up relationships in color. When arranging, I pay special attention to the point when things become other things: when line becomes shape, when shape becomes form, when texture becomes structure.
Drawing on my experiences as a transgender person and my understanding of matter’s transformation over time, I place priority on the process of thingness–how seemingly static objects not so much “are'' as “happen.” Zoom out and consider the continuous shuffle of matter over time on a planetary scale. Zoom in to observe how subatomic processes maintain the forms we interact with at our bodily scale. If all being is happening, ‘form’ as noun becomes ‘form’ as verb.
I release boundaries of works in space and time, allowing components to expand and collapse, to break apart, combine, shuffle and change—presenting and re-presenting themselves in multiple stages of their perpetual becoming.
bio
luka vergoz is an oakland-based artist who finds, alters, and arranges material scraps into sculptures and installations addressing physics, language, and the transsexual experience. they hold a ba from vassar college and an mfa from uc davis. a 2023-4 graduate fellow at headlands center for the arts, luka has shown work at icasf, root division, pelota gallery, and the manetti shrem museum of art.
cv
Education
2023 MFA Art Studio, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
2019 BA Studio Art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Selected Residencies, Fellowships, and Awards
2025 Bathers Library Residency September-November, Bathers Library, Oakland, CA
2024 Artist in Residence July-November, Pelota Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023-4 Graduate Fellowship at Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2023 Fay Nelson Award, Spring 2023, UC Davis Department of Art & Art History, Davis, CA
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Forming, Here, Again, Third Space Art Collective, Davis, CA
2024 Part Ways, Pelota Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2024 Set Ups, Junior Center for Art and Science, Oakland, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Full Feel, 120710 Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2026 Soft Portals, 120710 Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2026 Open Inquiry, Sausalito Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2026 Mapping Time, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, CA
2025 Fall, Bathers Library, Oakland, CA
2024 Counter Cartographies, Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, San Francisco CA
2024 Introductions, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2024 Love Lab, Junior Center of Art and Science, Oakland, CA
2023 Who’s to Say; Arts & Humanities Graduate Exhibition, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis, CA
2022 Sculpture Yard Exhibition, Studio Art Building Courtyard, University of California, Davis, CA
2020 Religion, Spirituality, & the Arts 2020 Exhibition: a project of the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute, Jewish Community Center, Indianapolis, IN
2019 Still Like Pink? Harrison Center for the Arts, Indianapolis, IN
2019 Spectrum II: An LGBTQ+ Exhibition, Garfield Park Arts Center, Indianapolis, IN
2019 What the Hack: Class of 2019 Senior Show, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2019 Tension & Release, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2018 Coping Mechanisms, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2017 Unmasking Stigma: Ableism & Ability through Art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2017 Tag Yourself, Vassar College Palmer Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Professional Experience
2026-Present Art Practice Technician, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
2024-2026 Studio Assistant, studio assistant to Kota Ezawa, Oakland, CA
2025 Fall Instructor, Beginning Sculpture, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2024-2025 Teaching Artist, Oakland Charter Academy, Oakland, CA
2023-2024 Teaching Artist, East Bay Creative Lab (prev. Junior Center for Art and Science), Oakland, CA
2024 Summer Teaching Artist Assistant, Camp Kala, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2021-3 Studio Monitor, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2023 Spring Teaching Assistant, Beginning Painting, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2023 Winter Teaching Assistant, Beginning Ceramics, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2022 Fall Associate Instructor, Beginning Drawing, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2022 Spring Teaching Assistant, Beginning Drawing, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2022 Winter Teaching Assistant, Beginning Sculpture, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2021 Fall Teaching Assistant, Beginning Drawing, Department of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
2019-2020 Project Assistant, Big Car Art Collaborative/Tube Factory, “Artist-run contemporary art museum and community center,” Indianapolis, IN
2016-19 Design Consultant, Design Studio, Vassar College Library, Poughkeepsie, NY
Selected Publications, Talks, and Reviews
2025 “Art Exposed: Luka Vergoz.” written Jennifer Fergesen, feature on work in publication Comstock’s Magazine. Sacramento, CA
2024 Counter Cartographies Exhibition Walkthrough Artist Talks, Institute of Contemporary Art SF, San Francisco, CA
2024 Cast off (re)Presentations. Show and Tell Artist Talk, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2024 Energy & Matter: Color & Form in Moveable Pieces. Lecture & Workshop part of The Berkeley School’s Visiting Artist Lecture and Workshop Series, The Berkeley School, Berkeley, CA
2024 Fabricating Fragment, February Artist Talk, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2023 Slow Connection Zine, images of two untitled paintings in zine printed to accompany Kelley O’Leary’s installation at Pallas Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 “Move Things Around and See Where They Go,” coauthored piece for publication Creative Acts: Volume 2, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2019 “Campus Canvas: Luka Carlsen,” feature on work in publication The Miscellany News, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2018 “Crafting a World and Fabricating Experience,” feature on work in publication Creative Acts, Vassar College, NY
Curatorial Projects
2025 Home After All, East Bay Creative Lab (Junior Center for Art & Science), Oakland, CA
2019 Tension & Release, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2018 Coping Mechanisms, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
