Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun:
A Bad Colonial Day
Two Rivers Art Gallery
Prince George BC – through Jul 10, 2005
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Government DIA Man Official Comes to Check on Indians at Reservation (1999), acrylic on canvas [Two Rivers Art Gallery, Prince George BC, through Jul 10] Courtesy Buschlen Mowat Gallery
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In A Bad Colonial Day, the Two Rivers Art Gallery presents a selection of paintings by British Columbia artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Yuxweluptun is a multimedia artist, performance artist and a sculptor who also, early in his career, pioneered a virtual reality-based artwork. He is best known for his paintings that incorporate such elements traditionally associated with Northwest Coast art as ovoids and ‘u shapes’. He reconfigures these shapes in theatrical tableaus that draw upon traditions of twentieth century European painting. The resulting landscapes are brightly-coloured – even garish – and eerily stark.The twelve pieces in the exhibit were borrowed from the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada and the Buschlen Mowatt Gallery.
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, G2 people talking about the Kyoto Accord Global Warming (2003), acrylic on canvas [Two Rivers Art Gallery, Prince George BC, through Jul 10] Courtesy Buschlen Mowatt Gallery
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Yuxweluptun’s semi-abstract, surrealistic landscapes are populated with native and colonial figures and mythical creatures. In many, trees and mountains are built from forms derived from Northwest Coast art. In particular, the ovoid shape he has reclaimed permeates his strange paintings, a quixotic mixture of realism and symbolic abstraction.Yuxweluptun’s work is a view of First Nations’ history through his own socio-political and cultural context. His practice, developed in a colonialist hegemony, illustrates the view of someone living within sovereign territory occupied during his entire lifetime. Recurrent themes are land claims, Aboriginal rights, self-determination and self-government, social conditions, environmentalism, Native reason and Native philosophy.
www.tworiversartgallery.com
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