The Relevant show on display at the Natham Cumings Foundation is comprised of American Indian artists of different tribal lineages who are living in New York City. The aim of this show is to update and advance the viewers' ideas on contemporary Native American art and dispel the stereotypes. This is accomplished by dividing the exhibition into three sections, hece the title "Reflection, Reformation, Revival".
Reflection: This first section features painters Mercedes Bell and Pena Bonita, and sculptor Diane Schenandoah. These three artists feature the traditional myths and symbolic themes of their respective tribes in such a way that they may be reexamined and better understood by an outsider's eyes.
Reformation: This next section features painters Yakita Starr Fields and Jason Martinez, videographer Jeffrey Gibson, and photographer/printmaker Jason Lujan. Their work expresses mainstream society's effect on traditional culture and vice versa, using more cotemporary processes such as video and photography.
Revival: The third and final part of the exhibition displays work by painters Vernon B. Bigman and Mario Martinez, Sculptor Jude Norris, and an installation/scultpture by Lorenzo Clayton and Jacob Burckhardt.
The curation of this exhibition is confusing. Instead of a gallery setting, the Relevant show is displayed in the Nathan Cummings Foundation's office building, which unfortunately chips away at its relevance. Even though the pieces are in groups by room and are clearly labelled, they are scattered about with bookcases and smaller offices in between. Te busy atmosphere and background noise of people at work reduce some of the work, especially the traditional Reflection pieces, to an almost decorative status. In addition, the distinct order in wich the show is supposed to be viewed is skewed, so that most of the Revval work is in the forum where a guest first walks in, and Reflection is further down the hall. The curation fits around the venue, but an office is no place for this show.
On a personal note, I loved the work in this show. It is deep in the subject of identity and its conflicts and harmonies with mass culture, and it deserves a gallery setting where more people may see it. I chose this exhibition because of its themes of identity. Most of my work, not just my thesis, deals with my identity as a NeoPagan Druid, an extreme minority in a predominately Christian nation. I wanted to see how these artists expressed their beliefs and values without "illustrating" them in a stereotypical manner.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment