Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Tall Standing Tree, 1997 (BG1789). Photo: Michael R. Barrick.

Artwork

Tall Standing Tree

Artist/Creator: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun Lets’lo:tseltun (Artist)
Date: 1997
ID #: BG1789

Physical Description

Medium: ink
Support: paper
Dimensions: 74.4 cm 21.5 cm (Object)
Object Description: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun’s work strikes at colonialism, corporations and government, and in so doing, the artist becomes a sort of history painter for his generation. In this etching, Yuxweluptun paints an almost totemic-like tree draped with melting Northwest Coast formline patterns, with several abstracted human figures discernable in the branches. The imagery refers to Surrealism, though the artist articulates his style as visionist Ovoidism – or non-referential abstraction. In his 1995 artist statement for his exhibition at the opening of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Yuxweluptun states, “Land claims have always concerned me: fishing rights, hunting rights, water rights, inherent rights. My home, my native land. Land is power, power is land. This is what I try to paint.”

History

Collection: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Permanent Collection
Credit Line: –
Related Exhibitions: –

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