JOHN FEODOROV: SOLO EXHIBITION
Artist Statement:
I am a multi-media artist working in painting, drawing, assemblage, installation, video and music. My most recent work addresses themes surrounding assimilation, identity and the enduring ramifications of colonization.
While it has been at least 20 years since I last visited my grandparent’s land in New Mexico, it is still very much a part of who I am. It is embedded in my memory and in how I connect with the world. And yet, I am also disconnected from it, both physically and spiritually.
The works in this show (or more accurately, the images on your computer screen) are reflections of this ongoing sense of connection/disconnection. Perhaps they are efforts at resolution that will never achieve their goal? Or maybe they are more playful, a making-lemonade-from-lemons sort of thing?
Yet perhaps these works also demonstrate your own disconnection? You cannot share the same physical space as them. You are looking at digitized images of tangible artworks. Without belaboring the point, visiting with family members, friends, or even viewing artworks via Zoom and the internet are also states of simultaneous connection/disconnection. And so, I suppose we are all exiled at this moment in time to varying degrees.
While these works may demonstrate my own thoughts and reflections, I also hope they encourage you to begin considering your own. Perhaps it is time to make some lemonade?
“Gods Of Industry”
Oil on canvas
64 x 68 inches
2020
The Covid19 pandemic broke here in Seattle as I began working on this painting. The imagery feels like a summary of what has been happening in this country for the last few years: border wall, pipeline expansion, the rolling back of environmental policies, a growing sense of helplessness, and of course, the current pandemic. Even the rainbow is absent of color and is stopped at the border. This painting is merely a reflection of my ongoing concerns. It is not dystopic futurism, but a response to what is happening now. While I may be criticized for not creating hopeful visionary art in the midst of such conditions, I would counter that the silhouette of the coyote in the foreground actually is hopeful. Though a phantom, it still survives despite everything that is happening around it as it exits the confines of the frame.
“Gospel Of The Red Man”
Mixed media on paper and wood panel
4 panels 10 x 10 inches each
2019
“Gospel Of The Red Man”
Mixed media on paper and wood panel
4 panels 10 x 10 inches each
2019
“Gospel Of The Red Man”
Mixed media on paper and wood panel
4 panels 10 x 10 inches each
2019
“Gospel Of The Red Man”
Mixed media on paper and wood panel
4 panels 10 x 10 inches each
2019
“Snake Map”
Giclée print with silver sharpie (edition of 10)
28 x 24 inches.
2017
Created in support of the Water Protector resistance to the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline at Standing Rock.
“Black Snake Comes To Navajo Land”
Mixed media on paper
48 x 46 inches
2017
Created in support of the Water Protector resistance to the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline at Standing Rock.
“Two Figures”
Acrylic and photo collage on canvas
64 x 80 inches
2019
“I’m An Indian, Too”
2021
Series of 10 giclée prints, approx. 24 x 16 inches each.
Often times I find myself conflicted about my own artwork. The mid-to-late 20th-century urban Native experience is one of confrontation, with both culture and self. Assimilation into dominant society comes at a cost to one’s identity. Or perhaps more accurately, it can end up defining one’s identity.
When popular culture becomes more influential than our grandparent’s stories, language, rituals, teachings, myths, etc., the danger is that its loud and ever-present voice happily tells who we are. And when that voice gets into our heads, it spells trouble.
For this series, I did a Google search for Native American costumes (try it yourself, it is depressing). I chose ten images to recontextualize. I then superimposed these images over well and lesser-known photographs of various Native people during the late 1800s and early 20th century, taken by photographers such Frank Rinehart and Edward Curtis. At first, the overlayed front image was transparent so as to display the “real Indian” underneath. However, I decided I did not want to implicate these ancestors, and instead chose to impose the fake Indian images as they were photobombs, the equivalent of a young child screaming “Look at me!”, therefore obscuring the person behind them. Of course, many of these so-called “authentic” photographs were taken under very in-authentic circumstances, with the figures posed within a staged scene inside the photographer’s studio. While I like the complexity of this situation, I must admit that these images make me want to laugh and weep simultaneously.
This series was also inspired by the Irving Berlin song, “I’m An Indian, Too”, from the 1946 musical, “Annie Get Your Gun”.
Content Warning: The words and images below contain and confront racist stereotypes.
“I’m An Indian Too” (1 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (2 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (3 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (4 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (5 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (6 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (7 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (8 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (9 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
“I’m An Indian Too” (10 of 10)
Giclée print
16 x 24 inches
2021
Pricing:
“Gods Of Industry” $13,500
"Gospel of the Red Man" $900 each or $3240 for all four
"Snake map" $900
“Black Snake Comes To Navajo Land” $2,500
"Two Figures" $13,500
“I’m An Indian Too” prints $900 a piece, unframed, or $8100 for all 10. (There is an edition of 10, beginning with the first edition)
All work is sold unframed. Sales tax and shipping not included.
Contact Gallery@makeshiftproject.com for inquiries.
Artist Bio:
Of mixed Navajo (Diné) and Euro-American heritage, John Feodorov grew up in the suburbs of Southern California in the city of Whittier. As a child, his family made annual visits to his grandparent’s land on the Navajo Reservation. His time spent there continues to inform his art.
Feodorov both engages and confronts the viewer through questioning assumptions about Identity, Spirituality and Place within the context of consumer-driven culture. Recently, his work has focused on the exploitation and degradation of indigenous lands by governments and corporations, and its potential impact on identity, connection and sense of Place.
Feodorov has been featured in several publications, including, Time and Time Again by Lucy R. Lippard, Art + Religion edited by Aaron Rosen, and Manifestations edited by Dr. Nancy Marie Mithlo. He was also featured in the first season of the series, “Art 21: Art for the 21st Century”. He is also co-founder of Animal Saint, an Interdisciplinary art collaboration with composer/musician Paul Amiel.
Feodorov served as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Seattle from 2000-2003 and holds the position of Associate Professor of Art at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University in Washington State.