Native Masks: Coloured Wallpaper

Sitka Alaska Dept: Nicholas Galanin's show at Trench Gallery is called New Culture. In a broad variety of media -ranging from wallpaper and wood to porcelain and animal furs -Galanin explores what it means to be a native artist from a contemporary perspective. Coming from a long line of Northwest Coast artists, he's of Tlingit descent from Sitka, Alaska. Galanin put in years of training in traditional media such as metal and wood before exploring what he calls "the politics of cultural representation.", according to Vancouver Sun. The Victorian-style illustrations on the cream-coloured wallpaper depict idyllic scenes of men and women frolicking in picturesque outdoor settings. The imagery hearkens back to the late 18th, early 19th centuries, the time when Europeans first came into contact with the people of the northwest coast of North America. The use of wallpaper also makes reference to the way native masks have been displayed as decoration in domestic indoor settings. Reflecting on the appropriation and commodification of Northwest Coast art in a capitalist system of production and exchange, the masks come from numerous sources: some were made by Galanin but others come from nonnative sources in Indonesia and on the Northwest Coast and a new gallery in Gastown is holding the first commercial exhibition by a conceptual artist whose work both challenges and works within the visual and ideological conventions of Northwest Coast art. In an interview at the gallery, Galanin said the masks, sculptures and installations in the exhibition represent the culmination of about five years of work. He said his artistic process starts when he goes into his studio with an idea in mind. The medium for a work is chosen through an explorative process that brings form to the concept. In the Imaginary Indian Series, for example, Galanin has created installations using masks and other recognizable Northwest Coast objects that are covered with the same wallpaper that covers the surface upon which they hang, so that they blend into the background. As reported in the news.
@t northwest coast art, northwest coast artists