Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptan

“Canadians are nationalized bigots, Aboriginals aren’t recognized in the Bill of Rights… and the Indian Act is a [document espousing] white supremacy. Canadians conveniently hide behind words.” – Laurence Paul Yuxweluptan (Yuks-whale-upten)

Yuxweluptun’s strategy is to document and promote change in contemporary Indigenous history in painting, using Coast Salish cosmology, Northwest Coast formal design elements, and the Western landscape tradition. His painted works explore political, environmental, and cultural issues. (The Western Front)

What I most admire about Yuxweluptan’s work is how opinionated it is. It is very clear that he comes from a certain framing of issues, believes strongly in what he’s talking about, and is very knowledgeable about the current events, places and people that inform his work.

I picked images of his work that are a little different then the ones I’ve seen a lot of- although I did see MacMillan Bloedel Eco-System Destroyers and Their Preferred Weapons at the Vancouver Art Gallery, during that show about trees (one I really enjoyed- it also had work by Kevin Schmidt, another artist with great work, and a really memorable train-in-a-forest installation).

I also think that his idea of success is very different from, say, Damien Hirst’s. Both are valid- it’s almost universal that dollar signs are a symbol of success. But there’s a few people who know that success is a little deeper, the kind of people that don’t go bankrupt after the lottery, and I think that’s Yuxweluptan.

He also is a very skilled painter, and uses the ovoid shapes of West Coast Native art in ways that jump off from tradition and escape the stagnant pond of souvenir shops most of tradition is stuck in. He is influenced but not a slave to tradition, and his work is very distinctly his. This is different from Bill Reid, whose work inserts itself into history instead of creating a new future- one that Yuxweluptan is changing.

You can see his work now at the Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver February 8 – March 31st.