Luca – bio

Snook, (c)2002 Luca Gasperi

Luca Gasperi, born and raised on a cattle ranch on St. Croix’s south shore, is a vegetable farmer as well as an established local artist, with formal training and experience in graphic design, and 10 years as a successful farming entrepreneur at Estate Southgate Farms before starting his own farm.

Luca has shown his artwork locally and abroad for over 20 years. His watercolor and mixed media paintings depicting the landscapes of St. Croix, its people and local life are sometimes surreal and always in demand by collectors. He paints with the intent of preserving the island’s natural resources and dynamic cultures. Luca has exhibited his work on St. Croix, New York, in his parents’ native Italy, and in Bermuda. Additionally, his commissioned work is often sought after by local community events and groups.

Many of Luca’s themes have subtle political and social messages. In 2001’s “Tending Life” exhibition he depicted local farmers in their fields or selling their produce at the La Reine farmers’ market, to bring attention to St. Croix’s often unrecognized local farmers.

Luca studied painting under Cindy Male at Good Hope School and watercolors under the late Bud Hawes. He spent nine years in New York City, where he met his wife and completed a bachelor’s degree at Parsons School of Design. He also worked professionally as a freelance graphic designer for several years in New York City.

Luca has spent substantial time in Bermuda, where he spent time creating maps and illustrations of the island for an atlas, published in 1997. He has also had several solo exhibitions there, and was awarded a two month art residency with the Bermuda Masterworks Foundation. Soon after, he took an internship on an organic farm in upstate New York before returning home to St. Croix in 1998 to farm full time.

For two years, Luca taught watercolor painting in the Caribbean Art Excursion workshop.

These days, Luca spends most of his time farming at ARTfarm on the South Shore of St. Croix, supplying customers and restaurant chefs with tomatoes, salad greens, fresh figs, and a variety of other local organically grown edibles highly in demand due to their incredibly high quality.

Luca also balances fatherhood and family, and sketching and painting his island home on free days and late afternoons.

Visits to Luca’s farm and studio are welcomed by appointment.