Contemporary Journeys features the work of four American Indian artists: the late Harry Fonseca (Nisenan Maidu/Hawaiian/ Portuguese), Marvin Oliver (Isleta/ Quinault), Darren Vigil Gray (Jicarilla/Kiowa Apache), and Melanie Yazzie (Navajo, or Diné). Like other artists of our time, their visual dialogue is rooted in personal history, cultural beliefs and identity, oral tradition, art history, and a response to place and the natural world. Through a rich layering of color, symbol, and form, their expressions embrace American Indian art and Modernism. In the case of Fonseca and Gray, Abstract Expressionism is an underlying influence.

All four artists have traveled roads that radiate toward national and international
art circles. Of dramatic importance was the 1999 Venice Biennale at which the American pavilion hosted an exhibition of American Indian art—the first in Biennale history. Titled “Ceremonial,” the 1999 exhibition featured the work of prominent American Indian artists, including Harry Fonseca. Increasingly, American Indian artists have been given voices on the global art stage for work that recognizes individual cultures, mixed identities, and diverse points of view.

Above all, each of our Invitational artists has evolved a personal expression that is unique and unmistakable, guided by living in modern society and exploring 21st century ideas and technology. Contemporary Journeys includes exciting works in a variety of media. Melanie Yazzie’s large-scale, painted, steel sculptures of the Navajo/Dineh woman in today’s world complement smaller bronze Reservation Dogs that reference male childhood bullies. Paintings by Harry Fonseca, Darren Vigil Gray, and Melanie Yazzie explore a range of subject matter including Coyote the trickster, New Mexico landscapes, personal dreamscapes, women, plants, and animals. The art of the monotype is represented in the figurative works of Melanie Yazzie and Darren Vigil Gray. Marvin Oliver presents his striking blown glass art, an increasingly popular medium among Indian artists. Oliver breaks the mold of Northwest Coast formline design by using striking colors that allude to his Southwest and Northwest Coast ancestry.

Through individual processes of self-discovery many American Indian artists have claimed or reclaimed their Native roots and woven them into their art. However, they go beyond solely exploring Native themes. By creating contemporary idioms for discourse about broad cultural, political, and environmental concerns they present a strong voice within the larger contemporary art context.

Contemporary Journeys is made possible through the support of Xcel Energy Foundation, New Mexico Humanities Council, and Roswell Museum and Art Center Foundation.