Luba Drozd

Luba Drozd (born 1982, Lviv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian-American artist, best known for her installation art. Her works incorporate sculpture, sound, 3D animation and architecture. Her installations address topics of symbiosis, subjectivity of perception of the intangible such as knowledge, time and memory through critique of built spaces.
Early life and education
Drozd was born in Lviv, Ukraine in 1982. Her family left Ukraine in 1997 and settled in Brooklyn, NY. Drozd received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pratt Institute, then attended Bard College Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 2015.
Career
Drozd's early works were single and two channel animation and video. Her piece Humane Restraint was on view at Smack Mellon's show Respond in 2015. Art critic Jillian Steinhauer had this to say about the piece: "Luba Drozd’s 'Humane Restraint' mashes up cheery instructional videos from mental hospitals and police forces that teach viewers how to properly restrain people . . . brilliantly on the point at which humor quietly swings into seriousness." In 2015 she received a new work grant from the Eastern State Penitentiary for a two channel video Institute of Corrections. The piece was on view at the museum 2016-2017. This video installation utilizes source materials created for correctional employees that include conferences, training discussions, and simulated scenarios. The artist edits the footage to uncover the system behind incarceration and the dialogue that goes on internally within the field of corrections itself. Drozd was a recipient of BRIC Media Arts Fellowship in 2015. In 2016 she received an artist residency with the Studios at MASS MoCA. In 2016 her piece Solipsism was included in CIM, a show of 7 contemporary Ukrainian-American Artists. Solipsism derives its name from the idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The piece examines our trust in the knowledge we receive from the outside, the belief in things we don't experience yet we are convinced one way or another that they are around us. In 2017 she received the Bronx Museum AIM fellowship, with her installation piece subsequently included in the Bronx Museum Biennial the same year. In 2017 Drozd had a solo show Soon enough Roads will be Rivers at Lubov gallery in New York. 2018 Drozd received residencies at VCCA and Millay Colony and exhibited within a group show at Pfizer Building in Brooklyn. In 2019 Drozd received MacDowell Colony Fellowship where she created Franconia Notch exhibited in a two person show with William Lamson at the Knockdown Center. Her subsequent piece Tarsainn received support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts through their emergency grant program. In the fall of 2019 Drozd created a site specific piece at Sunview Luncheonette. In early 2020 Drozd received a Yaddo residency where she worked toward a group show at the Hessel Museum. Her medical activism response to COVID-19 pandemic materialized into a piece presented in Lateral Additions.
COVID-19 response
On March 23rd Drozd located a shield design distributed by Prusa and adjusted the design so that the face shields could be fabricated with acetate, a hole puncher from a discount store, and rubber bands. She used backup rolls of Duralar that she’d kept on hand from previous exhibitions and installations, along with rolls of white filament that she’d bought to experiment with. The day after Drozd assembled her first face shield and posted about her process online, she was inundated with requests for shields from health care providers. Due to the high demand for PPE in New York City her friends set up a GoFundMe page which raised over $26,000 to help with making and distributing shields. The raised money allowed her and the team of volunteers to purchase more 3D printers, materials and transportation to supply essential workers with protective shields. The purchased equipment will be donated to schools.
Honors and Awards
* 2020 Pioneer Works Technology Residency, Brooklyn, NY
* 2020 Yaddo Residency, Saratoga Springs, NY
* 2018 VCCA Resident Artist Fellow, Amherst, VA<ref name=":5" />
* 2017 Bronx Museum of the Arts AIM Fellowship, New York, NY<ref name=":4" />
* 2016 MASS MoCA, Visiting Artist in Residence, North Adams, MA<ref name=":3" />
* 2016 Eastern State Penitentiary, New Work Grant, Philadelphia, PA<ref name=":1" />
* 2015 BRIC Arts Media Media Arts Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY<ref name=":2" />
Techniques and Materials
"Using piano strings, animated projection, sheet metal, micro-controllers, motors, and drywall, Drozd’s new installation yearns for a synesthetic equalization of matter. Her materials blend with the surrounding architecture, existing fluidly between their visual and sonic functions".<ref name":8" /> "Much of my art practice deals with the subjectivity of perception on both micro and macro levels,” Drozd says. “Each movement made, each position the viewer takes within my installations alters the sound, warps the parallax, and unfolds the space in a new and distinct way."<ref name":9" />

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