Born on February 9, 1950, James Luna was of Luiseño, Puyukitchum, Ipai, and Mexican heritage and lived on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in Pauma Valley, California, from 1975 until his death on March 4, 2018. Luna taught studio art at the University of California, Davis; University of California San Diego; and University of California Irvine.

In many of his works, Luna used humor as a tool to simultaneously disarm and confront. For example, dressed as a shaman, the artist begins Shameman with a cleansing ritual. After a short period, he highlights the selection of “sacred” objects that will be available for sale after the show. One such item elicits uproarious laughter: a “wet dream catcher,” consisting of the head of an old wooden tennis racquet with feathers, condoms, and a lucky rabbit’s foot affixed to the strings and frame. The artist notes that the piece is “signed and dated,” and part of anot to mention “limited edition.” Suddenly, the authenticity of his ritual, dress, and identity are all called into question, but the grift is Pyrrhic, relying as it does on the fraudulent repackaging of Luna’s cultural heritage.

Luna’s initial performance of Take a Picture with a Real Indian took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza branch on April 2, 1991. Luna then restaged the performance on the steps outside Union Station in Washington, D.C on October 11, 2010. Presenting himself as a tourist attraction, the artist invited onlookers with the eponymous line, “Take a picture with a real Indian.” As the crowd gathered, he continued: “Take a picture here, in Washington, D.C,. on this beautiful Monday morning, on this holiday called Columbus Day.” Like many of his works, the performance deconstructed America’s selective romanticization and shameless commodification of Native Americans. “America loves to say ‘her Indians,’” Luna added. “America loves to see us dance for them. America likes our arts and crafts. America likes to name cars and trucks after our tribes.”

Luna described the performance as one of mutual humiliation. As he stood stoically, tourists cracked jokes, thanked him for the souvenir photos, or brought up family stories about possible connections to various tribes. Their shallow excitement, paired with the inauthenticity of the encounter, revealed much about the American culture that surrounded it. 

The artist has been the subject of more than 41 solo exhibitions and has participated in over 85 group exhibitions. His works and performances have appeared in the New Museum (1990, New York), Museum of Modern Art (2009, New York), San Francisco Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Museum of Contemporary Native Art (2015, 2018, Santa Fe), Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (1987, 2019), and Whitney Museum of American Art (1993, 2019, New York). In 2005, he was selected as the first Sponsored Artist of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presented at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).

Luna was the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Bessie Award (1991), an Intercultural Film/Video Grant from the Rockefeller Foundation (1992), a Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium video grant (1995), an Andrea Frank Foundation Grant (2000), an Arts International Grant (2000), a Distinguished Artist Award and Eiteljorg Museum Fellowship for Native American Fine Art (2007), a Painters & Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2010), a National Arts Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (2015), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2017). In 2012, James Luna was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe.

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1950

Born: Orange, California

Enrolled Luiseño Tribe

La Jolla Reservation, California

2018

Died: New Orleans, Louisiana

EDUCATION

1976 

University of California Irvine

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1981

Rolando Castellón Gallery, San Francisco

1982

James Luna, San Jose State University, California

1983

San Diego State University

1987

The Artifact Piece, Sushi Gallery, San Diego 

1989

Two Worlds, International Arts Relations Gallery, New York; Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego

1991

On the Spiritual, Isaac Delgado Fine Arts Gallery, Delgado Community College, New Orleans

1992

James Luna: Actions and Reactions, An Eleven Year Survey of Installation/Performance Work 1981–1992, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz

Places for People to Meet, Art Awareness, Lexington, New York

The Sacred Colors, Galeria Posada, Sacramento, California 

James Luna, Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, Florida

Two Multimedia Installations, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe

Indian Tales, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego; The Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe; Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada

Indian Tales: Stories of Native People from the Rez and Cities, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Sometimes It’s Not So Beautiful to Be an Indian, Intermedia Arts and Two Rivers Gallery, Minneapolis

The Red Album, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago

1993

Relocation Stories, Capp Street Project, San Francisco

New Basket Designs, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago 

The History of the Luiseño People: La Jolla Reservation, Christmas 1990, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, New York 

Indian Tales, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, California; Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 

James Luna, University of Colorado at Denver; University of Oklahoma, Norman 

The Shameman, Art Awareness, Lexington, New York

1994

The Sacred Colors, Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut

Old Designs/New Messages, Pomona College Museum of Art, Montgomery Art Center, Claremont, California

The Shameman: My Way, Imagining Indians: Native American Film and Video Festival, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Arizona; Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; Asheville Art Museum, North Carolina

James Luna: My Way, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York

My Way, SAW Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The Web of Life (with Palomar Choir and Chamber Singers), Palomar College, San Marcos, California

1995 

Tribal Identity: An Installation by James Luna, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 

The Shameman, Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; New Mexico State University, Las Cruces 

1996 

Tribal Identity, Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon University, Ashland 

The Dream Hat Ritual, Santa Monica Museum of Art, California 

In My Dreams, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California; ATLATL Conference, Tulsa, Oklahoma; The Swiss Institute, New York; Siena Heights College, Adrian, Michigan

1997 

The Dream Hat Ritual, Sacred Circle Gallery, Seattle, Washington 

Our Indians, Arizona State University, Tempe 

Two Installations, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, California 

1998 

The Spirits of Virtue and Evil Await My Ascension, University of Wyoming, Laramie; The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia 

Our Indians, Florida State University, Tallahassee 

Collage, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, Michigan 

1999 

The Ballad of the Shameman and Betty Day Bird, Tozzer Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 

American Indian Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta; Living Arts of Tulsa, Oklahoma 

The Last Wild California Indian, Cleveland Public Theater, Ohio 

The Last Wild California Indian and Collage, Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York

2000 

Outfits & Other Paraphernalia for Night Raids, California State University, San Marcos 

The Ballad of the Shameman and Betty Day Bird, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma

The Chapel of the Sacred Colors, Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada 

American Indian Studies, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson Hole, Wyoming; 7A*11d International Festival of Performance Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

Futuristic Native Outfits for Night Raids (and Other Paraphernalia), 911 Media Arts, Seattle, Washington 

Petroglyphs in Motion [performance], SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico 

2001 

James Luna, Porter Troupe Gallery, San Diego, California 

Take a Picture with a Real Indian and Creation and Destruction of an Indian Reservation, Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas 

American Indian Studies, Washington State University, Pullman 

American Indian Studies II, The Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; University of California San Diego; University of California Santa Cruz 

The Deadfall Revue, Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Subterranean Post Indian Blues, Idyllwild Arts, Idyllwild, California

Take a Picture with a Real Indian, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 

2002 

Petroglyphs in Motion [installation], de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, California 

2003 

The Sun and Moon Blues, Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada 

Artists on the Cutting Edge: Cross Fertilizations Series, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego 

Take a Picture with a Real Indian/The Sun and Moon Blues, University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom 

2005 

James Luna: Emendatio, Venice Biennale, June 12– November 6

2014

I CON, Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, March 17–April 16

2020 
James Luna: Take a Picture with a Real Indian, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, September 10–December 19
 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1975

Carl N. Gorman Museum, University of California, Davis

Native American Art Exhibit for the Governor of California, California State Capitol Building, Sacramento

Native American Art, American Indian Studies Department, San Diego State University, California

1981

Carl N. Gorman Museum, University of California, Davis

1986

Made in Aztlan, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, California 

Hippodrome Gallery, Long Beach, California 

He’s Resting Now, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, California

1987

Arts and Culture Show, Public Arts Advisory Council, San Diego 

En Memoria, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego

Street Sets, Sushi Gallery, San Diego

1988

Up Tiempo!, El Museo del Barrio/Creative Time, New York 

California Mission Daze, Installation Gallery, San Diego, California 

Native American Art in the ‘80s, University of California, Riverside

1990

The Decade Show: Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, in collaboration with the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art

Art History/AA Meeting, Atlanta College of Art, Georgia 

Disputed Identities, San Francisco Camerawork, California 

California Mission Daze, California Indian Conference, Riverside 

The Tell Tale Heart, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C. 

2 Worlds, American Indian Community House Gallery, New York 

Cultural Diversity in American Theater, University of California, San Diego

1991

Facing the Finish: Some Recent California Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California

Encuentro: Invasion of the Americas and the Making of the Mestizo, Social and Public Art Resource Center Gallery, Venice, California

SITEseeing: Travel and Tourism in Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Shared Visions: Native American Painters and Sculptors in the Twentieth Century, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana

Disputed Identities, California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside; Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, British Columbia 

Selected Works 1990–91, Palomar College, San Marcos, California 

Contemporary American Indian Art, San Bernardino County Museum, Redlands, California Indigenous America: Honoring Our Heritage, University of California, San Diego 

Counter-Colonialismo, Centro Cultural de la Raza, San Diego, California

San Francisco Arts Commission Public Art Program, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, California

Submuloc Show/Columbus Wohs, ATLATL Traveling Exhibition, Phoenix, Arizona

1992

Sites of Recollection: Four Altars and a Rap Opera, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts; Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston, Massachusetts

Body Takes, Toronto Photographers Workshop, Ontario, Canada

Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario 

As Public As Race, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada 

The Alcove Show, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico 

Kísh Tétayawet Wampkísh (Dream House) with Lewis deSoto, Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, California

Shared Visions: Native American Painters and Sculptors in the Twentieth Century, Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma

The People Themselves: Native American Photography, Los Angeles Photography Center, California

Message Carriers: Contemporary Photography by Native American Artists, Photographic Resource Center, Boston University, Massachusetts

Native America: Reflecting Contemporary Realities, Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California

Facing the Finish: Some Recent California Art, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California

Counterweight: Alienation, Assimilation, Resistance, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, California

1993

The Sacred Colors, University of Arizona, Tucson 

1993 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Sites of Recollection: Four Funerals and a Rap Opera, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, New York; Dayton Art Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio

San Diego Artists from the Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, California

This Is Not a Multicultural Show, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York

Shared Experiences/Personal Interpretations: Seven Native American Artists, Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, California

The Shameman Meets El Mexican’t at the Smithsonian Hotel and Country Club (with Guillermo Gómez-Peña), National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1994

42nd Street Project, Creative Time, New York

The Shameman Meets El Mexican’t and the CyberVato in Chicago in Search of Their Lost Identities (with Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes), Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago

1995

The Shameman and El Mexican’t Meet the CyberVato at the Ethno-CyberPunk Trading Post & Curio Shop on the Electronic Frontier (with Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Roberto Sifuentes), DiverseWorks Art Space, Houston, Texas

1996

Continuity & Contradiction: A New Look at the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California

Re: public/Listening to San Diego, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California

1997

Scene of the Crime, Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture Center, University of California Los Angeles, California

Identity Crisis: Self-Portraiture at the End of the Century, Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin

Changing Spaces, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado

In My Dreams, Western Front, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Collage: Thoughts, Dreams, and Hallucinations, Arizona State University, Tempe; Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico; TRIBE, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

1998

Sex and Shamanism: The Seduction of Stereotypes and Misrepresentations of Native Peoples, Carl N. Gorman Museum, University of California, Davis

Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone, Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee

Side Streets Projects, Santa Monica, California

2000

Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900–2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The Chapel of the Sacred Colors, LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2001

The Road to Aztlan: Art from a Mythic Homeland, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

2002

Staging the Indian: The Politics of Representation, Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York

Alter-Native Dialogues, Nippon International Performance Art Festival, Tokyo, Japan

2004

Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture, Artrain USA touring exhibition

2009

Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West, Museum of Modern Art, New York, March 29–June 8

2019–2020

When I Remember I See Red, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, September 25, 2020–January 3, 2021
 

2021

Cousins and Kin, San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco, April 16–May 15

Proof of Stake – Technological Claims, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany, September 4–November 11

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe

Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS/CATALOGUES

Barron, Stephanie, Sheri Bernstein, and Ilene Susan Fort. Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900–2000. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2000. 

Burnham, Frye and Steven Durland, eds. The Citizen Artist: 20 Years of Art in the Public Arena: An Anthonology from High Performance Magazine, 1978–1998. Gardiner, NY: Critical Press, 1998.

Buskirk, Martha. The Contingent Object of Contemporary Art. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003.

Counterweight: Alienation, Assimilation, Resistance. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, 1992.

Cardinal-Schubert, Joane, Kerri Sakamoto, and Larissa Lai. As Public and Race: Margo Kane, James Luna, Paul Wong. Banff: Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, 1993.

Castillo, Edward D. and Michael Schwager. Shared Experiences/Personal Interpretations: Seven Native American Artists. Rohnert Park: University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, 1994.

Davies, Hugh Marlais and Ronald J. Onorato, ed. Blurring the Boundaries: Installation Art, 1969–1996. San Diego: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1997.

Dimensions of Native America: The Contact Zone. Tallahassee: Florida State University, Museum of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts and Dance, 1998.

Dubin, Margaret. Native America Collected: The Culture of an Art World. Albuquerque: Univresity of New Mexico Press, 2001.

Dubin, Margaret. The Dirt is Red Here: Art and Poetry from Native California. Berkeley: Heyday Boooks, 2002.

Facing the Finish: Some Recent California Art. Los Angeles: San Francsico Museum of Modern Art and Fellows of Contemporary Art, 1991.

Fajaro-Hill, Cecilia, et al. Xican-a.o.x. Body. The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, 2023–2024.

Fields, Virginia M. The Road to Aztlan: Art from a Mythic Homeland. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2001.

Glancy, Diane and Mark Nowak, eds. Visit Teepee Town: New Writings After the Detours. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1999.

Gómez-Peña, Guillermo. Dangerous Border Crossers: The Artist Talks Back. London: Routledge, 2000.

James Luna: Actions and Reactions, An Eleven Year Survey of Installation/Performance Work, 1981–1992. Santa Cruz: Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992.

Johnson, Lorraine, ed. Body Takes: Deborah Bright, James Luna, Chuck Samuels, Jin-me Yoon. Toronto: Toronto Photographers Workshop: 1992.

Jones, Amelia. Body Art/Performing the Subject. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.

Kiendl, Anthony, ed. Obsession, Compulsion, Collection: On Objects, Display Culture, and Interpretation. Banff: Banff Centre Press: 2004.

Lacy, Suzanne, ed. Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art. Seattle: Bay Press, 1995.

LaPena, Frank, Mark Dean Johnson, and Kristina Perea Gilmore, eds. When I Remember I See Red. Sacramento: Crocker Art Museum, 2019.

Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

Lippard, Lucy. On the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art, and Place. New York: New Pres, 1999. 

Lippard, Lucy. The Lure of the Local: Senses of Place in a Multicentered Society. New York: New Press, 1997.

Mandle, Julia Barnes and Deborah Menaker Rothschild. Sites of Recollection: Four Altars and a Rap Opera. Williamstown: Williams College Museum of Art, 1992.

Nemiroff, Diana, Robert Houle, and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1992. 

Red River Crossings: Contemporary Native American Artists Respond to Peter Rindisbacher (1806–1834). New York: The Swiss Institute, 1996.

Roalf, Peggy, ed. Strong Hearts: Native American Visions and Voices. New York: Aperture, 1995.

Rushing III, W. Jackson. Native American Art in the Twentieth Century: Makers, Meanings, Histories. London: Routledge, 1999. 

Sarris, Greg, ed. The Sound of Rattles and Clappers: A Collection of New California Indian Writings. Tucson: University of Arizon Paress, 1994. 

Sobel, Dean. Identity Crisis: Self-Portraiture at the End of the Century. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1997.

Sweet, Jill D and Ian Berry. Staging the Indian: The Politics of Representation. Saratoga Springs: Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, 2001.

The Tell Tale Heart: Ken Little, James Luna, Judy Southerland, Pat Ward Williams. Washington, D.C.: Washington Project for the Arts, 1990. 

Tribal Identity: An Installation by James Luna. Hanover: Dartmouth College, 1995.

Two Worlds: James Luna. New York: INTAR Gallery, 1989.

Warr, Tracey and Amelia Jones, eds. The Artist’s Body. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2000.

PERIODICALS

Blocker, Jane. “Failures of Self-Seeing: James Luna Remembers Dino.” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 67 (2001): 18–32.

Blondeau, Lori and Bradlee Larocque. “Surreal, Post-Indian Subterranean Blues.” Mix: The Magazine of Artist-Run Culture 23, no. 3 (Winter 1992): 46–53.

“Body Takes,” Toronto Globe and Mail Metro Edition, June 26, 1992: D8.

Boyce, Roger. “James Luna ‘Makes Do’ at the ICA Theater.” Art New England 20, no. 4 (June/July 1999): 14. 

Breslauer, Jan. “Performance Artist Luna Takes Another Road.” Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1991: F4, F12.

Champman, Steven, Susan Jeffrey, and Ruth Denny. “Art of the People.” Art Paper 12, no. 3 (November 1992): 9–11.

Chattopadhyay, Collette. “James Luna.” Sculpture 15, no. 9 (November 1996): 58–59.

Dubin, Margaret. “High-Tech Peace Pipe: An Interview with James Luna.” News from Native California 14, no. 3 (Spring 2001): 35–36.

Durland, Steven. “Call Me in ’93: An Interview with James Luna.” High Performance 14, np. 4 (Winter 1991): 34–39.

Fernandez-Sacco, Ellen. “Check Your Baggage: Resisting Whiteness in Art History.” Art Journal (Winter 2001): 59–61.

Fisher, Jean. “In Search of the Inauthentic: Disturbing Signs in Contemporary Native American Art.” Art Journal 51, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 44–50.

Geer, Suvan. “James Luna at the Santa Monica Museum of Art.” Artweek 27 (August 1996): 21.

Harlan, Theresa, Lee Marmon, and Maggie Steber. “Creating a Visual History: A Question of Ownership.” Aperture 139 (Spring 1995): 20–33.

Harper, Glenn. “The Hanged Sparrow: Post Utopian Art.” Art Papers 20, no. 1 (January–February 1996): 30–33.

Hawley, Elizabeth S. “James Luna nd the Paradoxically Present Vanishing Indian.” Contemporaneity 5, no. 1 (2016): 6–26.

Jackinsky-Sethi, Nadia. “Joel Isaak: Dena’ina Interdisciplinary Artist.” First American Art Magazine, no. 29 (2021): 63–64.

LeBeau, Eleanor. “James Luna.” Art Papers 32, no. 4 (2008): 69.

Luna, James. “Allow Me to Introduce Myself: The Performance Art of James Luna.” Canadian Theatre Review 68 (Fall 1991): 46–47.

Luna, James. “I’ve Always Wanted to be an American Indian.” Aperture 139 (Spring 1995): 38–41. 

———. “I’ve Always Wanted to be an American Indian.” Art Journal 51, no. 3 (1992): 18–27.

Marks, Laura U. “James Luna, Santa Monica Museum of Art.” Artforum 35 (October 1996): 123.

Martin, Linda R. “James Luna.” Native Peoples 10, no. 3 (Spring 1997): 96.

Miller, Betsy. “Multiple Personality: James Luna at UC Santa Cruz.” Artweek 23, no. 30 (1992): 20.

Morris, Gay. “Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California.” Art in America 82 (July 1994): 102–103.

Naming, Victoria. “Performance Art: James Luna.” MAVIN, no. 5 (2001): 59.

Ollman, Leah. “Confronting All the Demons; James Luna Deals Candidly with the Alcoholism, Violence and Bad Health Plaguing Many Native Americans.” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 1996

Reed, Victoria. “Traversing Borders.” Artweek 22 (April 11, 1991): 10. 

Robertson, Sheila. “Artist Lampoons Cultural Stereotype.” Saskatoon Star Phoenix, October 18, 1997: B362.

Rushing, W. Jackson and Kay WalkingStick, eds. “Special Issue: Recent Native American Art.” Art Journal 51, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 6–80.

Solnit, Rebecca. “The Postmodern Old West, or the Procession of Cowboys and Indians, Part II: Indians, or Breaking Out of the Picture.” Art Issues 45 (November–December 1996): 26–31.

Supahan, Nisha. “Absurd Magic.” News from Native California 9, no. 3 (Spring 1996): 42.

Tama, Jose Torres. “Healing with Humor: New American Perspectives from James Luna and Dan Kwong.” Art Papers 35, no. 5 (September–October 2001): 17.

“The Road to Aztlan: Art from a Mythic Homeland.” MAVIN 5 (2001).

Taylor, Kate. “Clever Barbs that Hit the Mark.” Toronto Globe, June 26, 1992. 

Yau, John, “How James Luna Exposed the Mechanisms of American Racism”, Hyperallergic, October 10, 2020.