STANDING ROCK

When it comes to painting, because of historical government campaigns to distinguish the populations of native Americans, my cultural identity is very important to me. I am a product of the assimilation campaign (and other government programs). The content of my work reflects my perspectives and understandings as a contemporary native American male living in the 21st century in the US. 

I feel my work offers an expansion to the definitions of indigenous art. As an artist trained in the principles of modern art, I compete in mainstream arenas as a native artist working beyond the boundaries associated with traditional native art expectations.

This movement shows itself in my work as I was emotionally agitated witnessing events at the Standing Rock reservation in 2016 on social media (because of health issues, I was unable to travel there). I also spoke with many people who attended the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests. From this information, I made sketches and created nine paintings for a solo exhibition in 2018 at Bockley Gallery titled Jim Denomie, Standing Rock Paintings. Several of the narrative paintings depicted the assault and military tactics used by racist police and a private security company against peaceful and unarmed protesters.

In a statement to the PLATFORM:VB