See Line Gallery presents Moving With the Storm, a solo exhibition by
multi-disciplinary artist Edgar Heap of Birds whose work ranges from conceptual public art to painting, print, and monumental sculpture. Heap of Birds was one of a small group of artists whose seminal work in the 1980s in the New York art scene defined the pluralistic and sophisticated direction of Native art, which continues to this day. His work frequently draws upon language (in form and content), history, and memory, and engages audiences in a dialogue about forgotten or subversive relationships
Moving with the Storm presents two bodies of work communicated in aggressive multi-colored pastel text drawing installations on rag paper. The gesture of hand in both sets of words remains true and aligned in a mark of percussion. In American Policy the tinted strokes, driven by active music, originate from instances of violence occurring during the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado, from the swords and guns of the 19th century U.S. Calvary and militia. Native American suffering is mourned through the likened drumbeat of each pastel mark hitting the paper. To interpret history and begin by attempting to clear the air is a necessity for today’s artwork to have credence. Although residue of American violence against Native people is still with us this storm of brutality must pass. After it is partially reflected in drawings it becomes important to delve into one’s self and enjoy sources of personal witnessing. These special notions and private events should be proclaimed and imaged with the same energy as political discourse. We often neglect the need to investigate individual priorities, humor and sensuality when considering Native American themes in the arts.
The second body of pastel drawings reclaims these missed concerns. The spirit of a storm may be turbulent or renewing depending upon one’s outlook. Everyone must decide whether to fight the wind or flow with the rain. Taking pleasure and dancing in each mood of the tempest shall sing the shifting equilibrium of this world.
Heap of Birds has exhibited his work at The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (New York), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, Australia), Documenta (Kassel, Germany), Association for Visual Arts Museum (Cape Town, South Africa), and numerous other galleries and museums in the United States and international arts community. Heap of Birds, a Cheyenne and Arapaho artist is currently a professor at the University of Oklahoma and recently participated in the 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy.