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Lucien Shapiro is a multi-faceted artist whose work spans across sculpture, performance, and film. His artistic practice is process-focused and common themes include repetition, a meticulous attention to craft, self-healing, and the transformation of forgotten objects into interesting and symbolic relics.

In a world of rapid climate change, Shapiro utilizes materials most would discard to create a raw conversation between treasure and trash. Through laborious and meditative repetition, he examines how small individual elements can come together to create a powerful and transformative whole. There is an inherent duality in his work, namely the contrast of urban materials (which are ephemeral, prescribed, industrial) and an aesthetic of something deeply rooted (poetic, hand-crafted, and eternal). 

Shapiro is interested in dissecting every element that creates the human he is today. This goes back through generations of family trauma, education, parenting, and guidance. Through creation he has the opportunity to tear all of this down and rebuild it over and over again. This is why his work concentrates on objects of intention, like self-portraits, portals, protection walls, and earth spells. These forms echo a healing language that lives in his experiences of deep self-work, experimentation, and travel. 

Lucien Shapiro was born in 1979, in Santa Rosa, California. He attended the San Francisco Academy of Art University and received a BFA in 2003. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, festivals, galleries, and art fairs.