Strange Lands features artists Sky Hopinka, Chris Cornelius, and Tom Antell. Together, they collectively frame their artwork around essential conflicts of the American landscape.
The violent removal of Native people from their land is a defining element of American agrarian idealism. This original sin haunts the artworks of these Indigenous artists. Hopinka is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. Antell is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa, and Chris Cornelius is a member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin.
In their work, landscape, memory, and legacy combine in open-ended narratives that simultaneously describe the personal and collective experience. Strange Lands examines the artwork and voices of these artists in the context of contemporary canons of art, but also demonstrates their singular experience as Indigenous Americans.
An intentional hesitancy to tie up loose ends emerges as a compelling component in the work of these artists. Cornelius describes this type of storytelling as having an inherent Indigeneity. The end is not the end, as these artists unearth unconscious and overt trauma, memory, and loss. In curating Strange Lands, I was drawn to this ambiguity, that these artworks offer a tangential experience, grounded as much in a realm of dream and history as in the known world.
Read the full Curatorial Statement by Rafael Salas here. Link: https://wisconsinart.org/exhib...
