Michael Lucero (b. 1953) was born in Tracy, California and earned a BA degree from Humboldt State University in 1975. In 1978, he earned an MFA at the University of Washington in Seattle. Soon after, he settled in New York when Minimalism was dominant in the art scene. Some of his work such as "Lizard Slayer," reflects that movement. He taught briefly at New York University and the Parsons School of Design. In the late 1980s, he turned from polychrome clay to cast metal and then began to incorporate both mediums. Generally he sees his work as "reverence for high art, affection for folk art, nostalgia for nature, and curiosity about other cultures."
His work is included in private collections and some of the most important museum collections in the USA and abroad including the Museum of Art + Design, New York NY; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea; The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; Chazen Museum of Art, Wisconsin; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA.
