Lorenzo Clayton
Lorenzo Clayton | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lorenzo Clayton |
| Nationality | Diné |
| Education | BFA Cooper Union, California College of Arts and Crafts |
| Known for | Installation, sculpture, conceptual |
Lorenzo Clayton is a contemporary Diné sculptor, printmaker, conceptual and installation artist.
Background
Early life
Lorenzo Clayton was born and raised on the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation.[1]
Current
Clayton is a professor in the printmaking department at Cooper Union and has lived and worked in New York City since 1973.[1][2]
Artistic career
I believe in the modality of abstraction as the core of human experience and expression. I know that this perception of abstraction is due to an indigenous and culturally-based disposition due to my being one half Navajo. - Lorenzo Clayton[1]
Clayton's artwork is heavily inspired by his heritage and life on the reservation, especially Native ceremonial arts. Through his artwork he explores ontology, which he believes is a part of Indigenous cultures; relationships to oneself and the environment as well.[1]
Collaborations
In 2009 Clayton collaborated with filmmaker and sound engineer Jacob Burckhardt to create Current, a 3 minute video installation as part of Wave Hill's exhibition "The Muhheakantuck in Focus". Muhheakantuck is a Lenape word meaning "the river that flows both ways" and was the original name for the Hudson River. The group exhibition featured work by contemporary artists from North and Central America creating artworks about the effects of Henry Hudson's contact with Indigenous people. Burckhardt and Clayton created an interpretation of that literal meaning creating a video displaying the river moving in different directions and flows. A metaphorically it represents the ongoing changes and history of the river, "suggesting that the contact between Henry Hudson’s Dutch expedition and the Lenape people was a pivotal point in time in the continuum of this force of nature." [2]
Major collections
- Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
- Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
- Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ
- Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
- Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ
- National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC
- Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
- University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ.[1]
Notable exhibitions
- The Muhheakantuck in Focus, 2009, Wave Hill, New York, NY[2]
- Relevant: Reflection-Reformation-Revival: Rethinking Contemporary Native American Art, 2009, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
- The Importance of In/Visibility: Recent Work by Native American Artists Living in New York City, 2009, Abrazo Interno Gallery
- Native Voices, 2008, The Brooklyn Campus of Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY
- New Tribe, 2006, National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY
- Moment by Moment: Mediation For The Hand, 2006, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND
- Paumanok, 2006, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
- Inner Equations, 2006, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ
- Who Stole the TeePee? 2000, National Museum of the American Indian, traveling
- The New Native American Aesthetic, 1984, California State University, Carsan, CA
- No Trinkets, No Beads, 1984, Palace of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland
As well as exhibitions at various private galleries and other museums such as the Morris Museum, Museum of the Rockies, Seattle Center, Pratt Manhattan and others.[1]
Major awards
- Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, 1999, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art
- Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award]], 1986, Pollock-Krasner Foundation
- New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant, 1983, New Jersey State Council on the Arts
- Artist-in-Residence, 1982, Museum of the American Indian[1]