On view November 5, 2025–January 10, 2026
Artist Reception:
Thursday, November 13
4:30-6 pm
FREE
The Asian Elder Portrait Project: The Heart of Chinatown as Seen through the Eyes of a Teen is Luke Sera-Tacorda’s first solo exhibition. Each portrait was drawn with graphite on paper, using a photograph reference of the subject taken by the artist.
Society often chooses not to see the senior citizens who have built and continue to be part of our communities. Collectively, we often fail to see their individuality or try to relate to them, and we all lose when those relationships are unformed. The Asian Elder Portrait Project aims to depict the vibrancy and unique qualities of each elder. Each smile line, glint in a pair of glasses, and shy expression conveys a unique and intriguing narrative.
American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (an inspiration to Sera-Tacorda on how to convey mood and emotion through art), wrote in 1968, “When I began to paint flowers, I was sure nobody would pay attention. So I thought, I’ll make them big and they’ll pay attention.” Through this project, Sera-Tacorda aims to magnify the joyous expressions of our elders and show Oakland and the greater Bay Area community why they are worth paying attention to.
If you’d like to attend the artist reception with Luke Sera-Tacorda on Thursday, November 13, please RSVP at the link below. The event is free. Registration is not required, but is requested.
About the Artist
Luke Sera-Tacorda is the seventeen-year-old artist behind the Asian Elder Portrait Project. As a child, his family recalls him doodling on notebooks, restaurant napkins, and church bulletins before he could talk. Unlike most young kids with an affinity towards visual art, though, drawing fantastical subjects never enticed him. Rather, before he had the language to describe it, he found joy in accurately depicting the smaller and unassuming details of everyday life: the subtle interplay of light and shadow, the dynamics of movement, the mechanics of perspective, and most of all, the emotional quality that drew him to his subjects in the first place. Thus, after years of experimenting with different forms of art, realism has proven to be his strongest and preferred form of self-expression. He hopes to continue his creative journey by pursuing architecture in college.
