Nationality
American, Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe of Northern Wisconsin
Preview
Date of Work
2012
Medium
Oil on gessobord panel
Signature
Lower left
Height
30"
Width
24"
Depth
2.5"
Collection/Provenance
Contemporary Indigenous Art Collections: Student Government Collection
Status
Displayed
Location
Memorial Union Gallery
Artist Bio
Gordon Coons' heritage is Ojibwa from Lake Superior Chippewa Band of Wisconsin and Ottawa from Michigan. He is an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribe of northern Wisconsin. Originally from Wisconsin, Gordon is now living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Gordon is a self taught artist, creating works in a variety of mediums including linoleum block prints, paintings, pen and ink, creations in stone and wood and assembled sculptures. Although his artwork is more contemporary, each piece portrays a unique view of traditional native stories.
Gordon has been showing artwork at juried shows around the country, including Eiteljorg Museum of Indianapolis; Art Northwest of Portland, Oregon; University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology at Lawrence, Kansas; Oscar Howe Arts Center and Dakota Discovery Museum at Mitchell, South Dakota; Gathering of People Wind and Water, Rapid City, South Dakota.
He has won numerous recognition awards and commissions for graphics/prints, paintings and assembled sculptures. His works have become part of permanent collections of institutions such as the Minneapolis American Business Development Corporation; Red Cloud Indian School Heritage in Pine Ridge, South Dakota; the Summit Medical Center of Oakland, California; Red Earth, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center, Chamberlain, South Dakota; and Lac Courte Oreilles Community Library, Reserve, Wisconsin.
Additional Information
A teepee made out of an upside down American flag against a lavender purple landscape.
Coons uses the upside down flag as a reference to its use by Native Americans as a symbol of protest. It has been used in this way since the 19th century and has been used by activists in the American Indian Movement throughout the 1970s and into the 21st century.
Condition
Excellent
Condition Notes
Excellent
