This is shaping up to be a great year for Native American art. I know I’m a tad biased on this, but I’ve never before seen so much interest and enthusiasm for the native arts scene. Looks like the beginnings of a paradigm shift.

What’s happening?

• Native artists and performers are being featured in major museums including the Whitney Biennial, The Met, Crystal Bridges, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and many more.
• Collectors are discovering contemporary Native artists, especially those who are breaking with convention.
• Native art is being considered for public spaces e.g., Brookfield Place is working with Native artists and performers.

Every curator, academic or collector is telling me the same thing: Keep an eye on contemporary Native Art, it’s shaping up to be the next big thing.

Of course, all this new attention creates an element of trendiness which in turn, creates opportunities for blunders, e.g., Dior’s new Sauvage fragrance commercial starring Johnny Depp has been roundly panned as being culturally insensitive. However, Rag & Bone’s new mural at their Houston Street store by Diana Garcia and Alexcia Panay is beautiful (pic below).

Scroll down for photos/images from recent shows plus those opening later this year.

2019 SHOWS

TC Cannon: Edge Of America at the National Museum Of The American Indian

Amazing show! Also recently saw TC Cannon’s work at the Gilcrease in Tulsa.

The Philbrook and The Gilcrease, both in Tulsa, have remarkable Native collections.

The Gilcrease is home to one of the most extensive collections of Native American art in the world.

Minnesota Institute of Art: Hearts of Our People

The largest exhibition of work by Native women artists ever assembled.

Minnesota Museum of American Art: Brad Kahlhamer

Brad’s art explores notions of cultural hybridity and the experience of navigating multiple communities, as well as the representation and appropriation of Native culture. His art speaks to the tourist trade for Native American objects like dream-catchers and katsina dolls, challenging us to see-anew these symbols that have become so commonplace and easily recognizable, yet detached from their original context and meaning.

The show is traveling to Fargo, ND and will open at the Plains Art Museum in November.

Unsettled: Art On The New Frontier at the Palm Springs Art Museum

This exhibition is a sweeping presentation of contemporary art by artists living or working in the Greater West. Native American artists in the show include Brian Jungen, Rebecca Lyon and Nicholas Galanin.

Rag & Bone, Houston Street: Mural by Diana Garcia and Alexcia Panay

Brookfield Place (NYC): Tepkik by Jordan Bennett

Nasher Museum of Art: “Art of a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now”

The first exhibition to chart the development of contemporary Indigenous art in the United States and Canada.

UPCOMING SHOWS

Urban Indian: Native New York Now at The Museum of The City Of NY

The Met Invites Canadian Cree Artist to Make Over the Great Hall