Native art displayed at IU Museum

Installations for the IU Art Museum’s Contemporary Explorations open in the Gallery of Art of the Western World.

Titled “Paintings by Contemporary Native American Artists,” the three installations feature art from the museum’s permanent collection.

“If people have a stereotypical perception of what they expect to see when they hear Native American art, this will show that you can’t really put artists into a category that easily,” McComas said.

The installations will be on display until Oct. 14.

Emmi Whitehorse is the best known of the three artists, McComas said.
She was born on a Navajo reservation and uses mixed media.

Her painting, “Rushing Water,” uses flowing lines as an abstract representation of the desert.

Rick Rivet uses cosmological and religious symbols from his Matis culture in his work.
“Reversed Tree” features two trees, one upright with a yellow background and the other flipped with cool colors and additional branches.

Rivet’s painting and Whitehorse’s were acquired together last year, McComas said.
Jaune Quick-To-See Smith’s work was acquired in 1989.
 
McComas said Smith’s “Sage and Sweetgrass” piece is more politically engaged than the other artists’.

“She tries to deal with social issues, which are really issues of mainstream American culture dominating the indigenous cultures,” McComas said. “I kind of get the sense that there may be an American flag here.”

Influences from abstract expressionists are present in the simplified iconography of Smith’s work.

“Her work (looks) at mainstream American artists from the latter 20th century,”
McComas said.