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"Reclamation: Manifestations of Changing Woman," Nani Chacon, oil on masonite
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Santa Fe, NM — Low-Rez: Native American Lowbrow Art is
a group art show of emerging and established Native artists working in the
“lowbrow” genre of Pop Surrealism. The show runs from August 17 to September 1,
2012, and opens with a reception on Friday, August 17, 5:30 – 9:00 pm at 131 West San Francisco
Street, First Floor near the downtown
Santa Fe Plaza. A closing reception will be held on Saturday, September 1st,
from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. Both events are free and open to the public.
Participating artists include: Jamison Chas Banks
(Seneca-Cayuga-Cherokee), Nanibah “Nani” Chacon (Navajo), Brent
Greenwood (Ponca-Chickasaw), Amber Gunn Gauthier (Ho-Chunk–Menominee),
April Holder (Sac and Fox-Wichita-Tonkawa), Topaz Jones
(Shoshone-Lummi-Kalapuya-Molalla), Randy Kemp (Choctaw-Yuchi),
Linda Lomahaftewa (Hopi-Choctaw), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara),
Daniel McCoy, Jr. (Potawatomi-Muscogee Creek), America Meredith
(Cherokee Nation), Chris Pappan (Osage-Kaw-Cheyenne
River Sioux), Jeremy Singer (Navajo), Monty Singer
(Navajo), Ryan Singer (Navajo), Hoka Skenandore (Luiseño-Oneida-Oglala Lakota),
“The Werewulf” Micah Wesley (Kiowa-Muscogee Creek), and Debra Yepa-Pappan
(Jemez-Korean). The show will also feature a mural by Jamison Chas Banks and
Keith Secola (Northern Ute), both recent IAIA graduates.
Coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences, these
artists are united in their use of pop cultural imagery to express themselves
as contemporary indigenous peoples. Most of the artists attended the Institute
of American Indian Arts, a school dedicated to Native artists choosing their
own path in self-representation, and most are participating in SWAIA’s Indian
Market.
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| Redemption March, Ryan Singer (Navajo), acrylic, 2012 |
Lowbrow Art, also called Pop Surrealism, has mushroomed over
the last few decades, as a response to overblown bombastic excesses of
conceptual art and a return to a love of craft and technique in art making.
Santa Fe has been an epicenter for the Native Pop movement, in which artists
use pop imagery to explode non-native fantasies of Indians as the timeless
“Noble Savage” and to establish entry points for audiences who might not be
familiar with tribal histories or imagery. The subversive humor of Native Pop
and Lowbrow Art provides a perfect vehicle for social commentary without
becoming preachy or propagandist.
The pop imagery used by the artists isn’t random. Often it
reflects traditional Native imagery that was co-opted by mass media—Trickster
Rabbit as Bugs Bunny, Princess Leia’s Hopi butterfly whorl hair-do, Taos Pueblo
artist Pop Chalee’s blue deer paintings transformed by Walt Disney into
“Bambi”—acts of re-appropriation.
Pin-up girls are transformed by the hand of Amber Gunn
Gauthier and Nani Chacon from sex objects for voyeurs to symbols of empowered
women who own their sexuality. Chris Pappan turns traditional ledger art on its
head. Linda Lomahaftewa was part of the initial wave of Native Pop artists and
was a classmate of T. C. Cannon at IAIA. Lomahaftewa lived in the Bay Area in
the 1960s and 1970s and will exhibit monotypes with UFO-imagery. Micah Wesley
and Cannupa Hanska Luger were part of the Humble Collective, an artist-run
space that challenged and inspired waves of artists over the last decade.
Daniel McCoy combines comic book imagery with imagery from
traditional Muscogee ceremonial grounds of his youth, with wry to dark humor.
McCoy will create a large scale, site-specific installation at the street-level
San Francisco gallery space.
Last week a golden opportunity came my way — teaching ARTS 165, "Art Exhibitions and the Cultural Landscape," at Santa Fe Community College. The 3-credit course will meet Wednesday, 9-11:30 am, beginning tomorrow, August 22nd; however, it's not too late to enroll! You can audit the class as well, without having to order transcripts. The class meets on SFCC's main campus in room 711.
