Sonny Assu: As Defined Wit hin the Indian Act is the first solo exhibition of emerging contempora ry artist Sonny Assu. The exhibition will feature new work that explores th e current tension between innovation and tradition through the forms and se nsibility of Pop art. Curated by Matthew Hills\, the exhibition seeks to po sition contemporary urban Indigenous artistic production within the context of the Northwest Coast and Vancouver’s contemporary art discourse.
C ombining a Pop aesthetic with traditional Northwest Coast style and forms\, such as the button blanket and formline\, Assu cultivates a wry critique o f current artistic and socio-economic issues pertinent to contemporary cult ure. The exhibition will include several new paintings and sculptures that experiment with notions of commodification and the ready-made. The result i s an engagement of tradition that refuses to acquiesce to the stereotypes o f First Nations art and artists\, while respecting Native culture and addre ssing an urban context. Placing an emphasis upon the exploration of identit y\, Assu’s practice compels the viewer with incisive wit that undermines no tions of a static First Nations identity and temporarily allays the ubiquit ous misrepresentation of First Nations cultures and peoples.
Since th e completion of his BFA at the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design in 2002 \, Sonny Assu has established his practice through various group exhibition s including Thinking Textile at the Richmond Art Gallery\, Futuristic Regal ia at Grunt Gallery Vancouver\, and Changing Hands: Art without Reservation currently showing at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York before it tou rs nationally. A member of the Laich-kwil-tach Nation of the Wei Wai Kai (C ape Mudge) band\, Sonny has lived in Vancouver since 1998. For further biog raphical information please visit the artist’s website: http://say2k.tv/
The title\, As Defined Within the In dian Act\, makes ironic reference to Indian Status cards and the faile d attempt of the Indian Act to define and limit Aboriginal identity. This e xhibition is curated by Critical and Curatorial Studies Master of Arts cand idate\,Matthew Hills\, with support from the Morris and He len Belkin Art Gallery\, the Alvin Balkind Fund for Curatorial Initiatives\ , and the Department of Art History\, Visual Art\, and Theory at UBC.
The Belkin Satellite gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
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