The Cadence of Night and La Garnison Mentalité
on view December 15th, 2022 - February 23rd, 2023
K Art is pleased to announce The Cadence of Night: Recent work by Duane Slick (Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk nations) and La Garnison Mentalité by Henry Payer (Ho-Chunk). Both artists have recently created new work for our Winter 2022 exhibition.
The Cadence of Night presents two sets of paintings and prints. One set engages with the artist's interest in the Native American trickster, Coyote, through a simple form of portraiture. Larger works engage modernist histories of painting filtered through the lived experience of a Native American Man, offering multiple associations of minimalist painting, blanket and textile patterns, and digital glitching screens and shelves. These night paintings are activated with plants and depict an architecture of thin white and red lines, and their palette is based on the earth colors worn by traditional dancers from the woodlands of Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk nations.
Henry Payer offers cartographic artworks on military wool that analyze militarism and colonization through a Ho-Chunk perspective in La Garnison Mentalité. Initially coined by literary critic Northrop Frye, the garrison mentality argues that early Canadian identity was characterized by fear of an empty and hostile national landscape, ultimately promoting the imperial eye. Payer relates this theory to stretching and remapping military wool over repurposed windows. With no disrespect to current and former military personnel, Payer writes, "While colonialism continues its detrimental impact on Indigenous communities, militarism has also been instrumental in the preservation of our culture and history. This work offers a distinct perspective and opportunity to learn about our ongoing struggle with imperialism and service to the American flag."
Duane Slick’s Candid Coyote, 2022
Henry Payer’s What Separates Us Connects Us, 2018