Meet Michael Lujan | Artist, Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Lujan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I really didn’t have much choice in the matter: I have always been constitutionally ill-suited for working in an office or following someone else’s dictates, and always gravitated toward less regimented ways of being. The irony now is that I have to impose a fairly strict regimen on myself 24/7 in order to stay productive, one that involves a lot of prayer and study.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My designs are primarily motivated by, as the website says, the remembrance of death. I believe that keeping death firmly fixed before our eyes, far from compelling despondency or apathy, makes us better humans. On my deathbed, will my regret be that I didn’t get into more internet arguments, cut off more people from my life, given my opinion more often? Or will it be not having spent more time with my loved ones, not having spent more time lightening the burden of strangers in whatever way circumstances presented, not having spent more time in contemplation of the beautiful creation all around us?

Though my designs are generally more geared explicitly toward my Orthodox Christian faith, I would like to think some of them make a more general appeal to the feeling, this uncanny sense that’s difficult to eradicate no matter how distracted we are, that there may be something more to reality than what is presented to our senses, no matter how beautifully attuned our senses may be to appreciating what is around us.

The challenges are still in process of being overcome. Expressions of “in remembrance of death” often get mistakenly flagged by the social media algorithms as being threatening (!), rather than as an appeal to conscience and whatever may come after this life. So a lot of my work gets shadowbanned and flagged. But I try to take this, as with all other challenges, as a direct communication from God in some way. Challenges are often, I’ve found, God’s most direct and least subtle ways of communicating with us His creatures.

What I want the world to know about my work most of all, if I had to sum it up in a few words, is that I hope it might serve as a witness to my belief, and to what I’ve seen in many ways, that death truly is not the end, and preparation for it brings dividends one need not wait for.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Though I’ve had to move to Arizona to assist my elderly parents (one of whom has since passed away), in addition to my spiritual family with whom I remain close, there will always be places in the City of Angels where my heart regathers itself in my memories, and where I’ll be returning whenever I can. Perhaps some distance has helped hone in on what truly mattered to me while living there.

At the top of this list is the Getty Center. I love the Villa as well, but the Center for me holds pride of place, not just for its collections, but for the sheer majesty of the actual architectural space. I’ve spent many hours there without dipping into a single exhibit, just to simply exist for a time in these organic canyons of stone, glass, and garden. My soul breathes freely here as it does so rarely elsewhere. As a tour guide for my friends, after taking in the centuries of human creativity beautifully curated in its galleries, I’d implore them to just simply sit down in the courtyard or the garden and allow the mute architectural stillness to permeate their being.

Then there are the hills and coastlines of Malibu, particularly when the wildflowers are in bloom. One of my most vivid memories was spending some time there, some months after wildfires had done their seasonal part in the natural cycles of life and death (this particular year unfortunately one of my friends lost her home). The remnants of charred tree trunks stood out among the almost garish display of orange and yellow blooms. This was just one of the more memorable times when life and death have stood almost conjoined during my time in Los Angeles.

Then there are the prosaic streets in so many residential neighborhoods – the ones I’m most familiar with are on the West Side – lined with jacaranda trees, which drape street, sidewalk and car with the stunning bright purple mess of their fallen blooms every spring.

Lastly, as a lifelong fan of science fiction, any list by me of places to visit in LA not mentioning the Bradbury Building which was featured prominently in the film Blade Runner would be a dishonest list.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to acknowledge the immense contribution to my life made by my church family in Los Angeles, especially by my spiritual father, Father John Tomasi, who has guided me in overcoming many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. I’d also like to acknowledge my parents, Gladys Lujan (of blessed memory), and Jerry Lujan, for all of the sacrifices they made for me and my siblings, and for the constant encouragement to live life in curiosity and wonder. And I would like to extend a very special Thank you! to my dear friend and sister-in-Christ and fellow artistic laborer for the Lord, Angelica Sotiriou, both for the years of friendship and fellowship, and for the opportunity to appear in this space via her recommendation. 

Website: https://remembranceofdeath.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/remembranceofdeath/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apophaticmichael/

Image Credits
All images by myself, Michael Theophan Lujan.