Luba Lukova

If you don't appreciate her art you can at least admire her use of metaphors. Her Health Care poster was used at the inauguration of Obama.

When illustrator and designer Luba Lukova graduated from the Academy of Fine Art in Sofia, Bulgaria, it wasn't up to her where she would practice her craft. She was a fairly outspoken and opinionated student, so the then-Communist government posted her far away from the capitol -- in Blagoevgrad, a small town in Southeast Bulgaria.


Little did government officials know that assigning artists like Lukova to Blagoevgrad meant the tiny town eventually would become fertile ground for dissident views. For nearly four years, she worked as a poster artist for small theater, forging bonds with like-minded artists. "I completely felt like I was in the right place at the right time. We did work that had double meanings because of censorship. We would say we were doing one thing, but really we'd be doing another."


A few years later, in 1989, the Iron Curtain began to come down, and the government granted Lukova an international passport to the US in 1991 to see her work at an international poster display in Colorado. She thought she would only stay a few weeks; she ended up staying ten years. And now, as an illustrator for the New York Times Opinion-Editorial section and a successful independent artist, she believes art should carry a message. "A piece has to say something -- not just leave people indifferent, but to challenge them." - During a recent visit to her New York studio, Altpick.com spoke to Lukova about her work.