Miranda+Perez+Contemporary+Native+Artist

Miranda Perez Contemporary Native Artist 2/24/2010

Native art to me is very raw; there are a lot of colors, there doesn’t seem to be very much detail but you sense a lot of emotion. When I picture native art I see beadwork, basket weaving, leather work, doll making and so forth. I realize that anyone can basket weave or bead but native art tends to have a central theme; usually the work is very colorful, has a geometric pattern, and involves a lot of native American aspects of life from the past. In my opinion people feel that Native artwork is art made by an Indian, and when it is made by a non-native it’s less authentic, as if they have no connection to the work. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t many non-native American artists out there that aren’t wonderful artists. I found many that from looking at their artwork you thought they would have been Native American but were not. It really is your opinion as to what native art is.

The native artist I chose to spotlight was Tony Abyeta; he is roughly 40 years old, grew up in Gallup New Mexico, and is still working today. Abyeta has a unique was of combining the themes I talked about above. He uses a lot of bright colors that catch your eye and you see a very distinct geometric pattern in all of his work. What makes his art Native art is that he uses many Native American aspects such as dancers, shaman, corn, and masks, and tweaks them into a modern interpretation. You can definitely see a different style of Indian, typically seen more around the southern part of the U.S, which would be where he is from. His artwork seems to have a connection as I talked about earlier, which I think comes from he himself being a Native American and having experienced these things.

[] - Tony Abyeta Info

http://www.blueraingallery.com/artists/tony_abeyta/ - Tony Abyeta Gallery