Frank Buffalo Hyde: AL·TER·NA·TIVE at the All My Relations gallery

Onondaga artist Frank Buffalo Hyde, born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and currently based in Northfield, Minnesota, had his work featured on the MTV and Smithsonian Channel reality show, “The Exhibit,” in 2023, as well as in the Showtime television series “The Curse.” He has also had solo museum exhibitions, including at the Gilcrease Musuem in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and his work is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

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In All My Relations, Buffalo Hyde offers a satirical foray into topics such as cultural appropriation and stereotypes about indigenous culture and history. In a 2023 painting, “No, Let Me See Your CDIB” (referring to the Indian Blood Certificate), Hyde paints a giant hand pointing toward a much smaller, proportionally, image of an indigenous figure that somewhat resembles to Wes Studio. like Magua in “The Last of the Mohicans”. The top of the painting says: “You want a little Indian in you?” » The work mocks how blood quantum was used as a tool by the U.S. government for enslavement and often land theft. At the same time, it questions the way in which indigenous identity has often been manipulated in traditional stories and films, historicizing cultures that are still very much alive.

In another series of works, Buffalo Hyde takes on the role of curator, using pizza boxes and papier-mâché to reveal the controls involved in the art world, where often non-Native curators and museum directors take decisions about works of art that fit a particular narrative. . The boxes curated by Buffalo Hyde juxtapose remnants of dominant culture like Darth Vader and drip them with paint and feathers. In a way, he appropriates popular culture in a new improvised form.

You’ll see teddy bears dipped in red paint, stacked on top of each other like totems, and Pablo Picasso wearing an indigenous headdress, holding a gun and surrounded by colorful circles. This is a body of work that embraces the messiness of creative practice and deliberately rejects clean lines and overproduction. Buffalo Hyde instead celebrates a frenetic sarcasm and an art that is not exhausted.

On Friday, May 31, listen to the artist during an artist talk from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at All My Relations (free). Reserve a place here.

Sheila Regan

Sheila Regan is an arts journalist based in the Twin Cities. She writes MinnPost’s biweekly Artscape column. She can be contacted at [email protected].

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