Upcoming exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery!
Details here
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_beat_nation.html
By combining two pre-taxidermied wolves into one, artist Nicholas Galanin has created a startling piece. Called Inert Wolf, it was made for a traveling group exhibition that deals with humanity’s impact on the environment. “The inability to progress or move forward was the basic concept,” he tells us. It was created so that we could focus on those that are “affected by societies’ sprawl.”
Originally, Galanin was going to use polar bears, “as they are, politically, in the spotlight surrounding climate change,” but ended up using wolves instead.
“I look at this piece in cultural terms,” he says. “Mainstream society often looks at Indigenous or Native American art through a romantic lens, not allowing a culture like my Tlingit community room for creative sovereign growth. The back half of this piece is contained, a captured trophy or rug to bring into the home, while the front continues to move. It is sad and the struggle is evident.
“Inert deserves to be seen in person; it generates a strong emotional response, viewers have cried.”
Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art
On view January 14 through April 29, 2012
SALEM, MA –– This winter, the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) presents, Shapeshifting, one of the largest Native American Art exhibitions to open in North America in more than 30 years. Nearly 80 works from public and private collections worldwide offer a far-reaching exploration of Native American art as a continuum, juxtaposing historic and contemporary artworks. Through constellations of objects created in a range of media — sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, photography, drawing, film, video and monumental installation — visual and conceptual connections are drawn between generations of Native people, art traditions and cultures. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday, January 14, 2012.
Sat Jan 14, 1 pm – 2:15 pm: Panel Discussion with Karen Kramer, Kay Walkingsmith, Janet Berlo, Nicholas Galanin
http://www.guideforthearts.com/museums/pem-presents-bold-exhibition-of-native-american-art/
Generous Review of my Toronto show
Nicholas Galanin at Toronto Free Gallery
Until Dec. 18, 1277 Bloor St. W., Toronto; torontofreegallery.org
If Nicholas Galanin’s work in First Law of Motion (a survey of recent projects curated by Wanda Nanibush) reminds you of the art of Kent Monkman or Brian Jungen, you’re not alone. Nor does that twinkle of recognition detract from Galanin’s particular sparkle.
Part of a generation of aboriginal artists whose work conflates pre-European invasion tropes with contemporary, post-everything culture, the Alaska-based multimedia whiz loves to jump up and down on the (questionable to begin with) boundaries.
To wit, observe his series of dance masks made from shredded Bibles, or his assemblage of carved masks and a canoe paddle blended with cheesy toile de Jouy wallpaper. Even more blunt is Galanin’s role-reverse video, wherein a ceremonial dancer, in full cape and mask regalia, dances to an electro soundtrack and, topsy-turvy, a hip-hop dancer pops and locks to a sacred drum composition.
I hesitate to impose an agenda on this work, but it does appear to call for a new synthesis of aboriginal and post-colonial cultures; one that values blending at least as much as preservationist gestures. But I’m not aboriginal, so I’ll leave that to the experts.
Galanin’s skillful exploration of new possibilities between cultures, however, is as undeniably playful as it is testing.
From Saturday’s Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/rm-vaughan/pecs-and-pizza-dough/article2258132/
One of my favorite blogs! They posted this today… awesome!
http://www.booooooom.com/2011/12/02/multidisciplinary-artist-nicholas-galanin/
KINDRED SPIRITS
Native American Influences on 20th Century Art
2011
New York: Peter Blum Edition. Texts by Carter Ratcliff and Paul Chaat Smith.
The book includes works by the following artists, photographers and Native American tribes:
Artists: Josef Albers, Max Ernst, Helmut Federle, Nicholas Galanin, Andrea Geyer/Simon J. Ortiz, Agnes Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe, Bruce Nauman, Jackson Pollock, Charles Simonds.
Photographers: Ansel Adams, Edward Curtis, John Karl Hillers, Lee Marmon, Sumner Matteson, Paul Strand, Adam Clark Vroman.
Native American tribes:Apache, Arapaho, Acoma, Cayuse, Havasupai, Hopi, Mimbres, Navajo, Panamint, Pueblo, Sioux, Yavapai, Zia, Zuni
The book is comprised of 213 pages, 118 color illustrations. Booksize is 10 ¼ by 8 inches (26 x 20.3 cm). Edition of 1500, hardcover clothbound.
It’s Glimmering Now
In the past, Silver Jackson has served as an outlet for Galanin’s bluesier, folksier side, but the eclectic collection found on “It’s Glimmering Now” is nearly impossible to peg. There’s a long list of collaborators, which includes Seattle producer Psmoov, Rhymesayer’s Budo, members of Little Wings and Breathe Owl Breathe and many more. The old rustic qualities are still there, but the album takes a lot left-hand turns sonically. There are open and spacey moments, shades of hip-hop, singer/songwriting-leaning numbers and impressionistic washes of sound like the title track.
Read more: http://community.adn.com/adn/blog/106149#ixzz1e72iqTGB
Artist Nicholas Galanin to present 'New Culture' at Evening at Egan
Tlingit and Aleut artist Nicholas Galanin defies easy categorization. His finished works span many forms — from video to sculpture — and his artistic process, like the living culture that informs his art, is constantly in motion, driven by concepts and fed by a seemingly inexhaustible supply of energy….
Peter Blum Soho is pleased to announce the exhibition Kindred Spirits, Native American Influences on 20th Century Arton view October 29, 2011 through January 14, 2012.
The exhibition features works of indigenous peoples from the Southwest region of the United States of America that illustrate their strong and often neglected influence on Modern and Contemporary art. Funerary vessels, paintings, pottery, weavings, and baskets from fourteen tribes including the Apache, Hopi, Mimbres, Navajo, and Zuni are exhibited alongside Modern and Contemporary works by artists such as Josef Albers, Max Ernst, Agnes Martin, Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock (see complete list below), illustrating the profound inspiration these artists found in the desert landscapes and Native American cultures of the Southwest… Follow the link for more info
http://peterblumgallery.com/exhibitions/2011/kindred-spirits-native-american-influences-on-20th-century-art/press-release
