As my partner Liz and I worked our way through the Denver Art Museum’s North building, a piece that made an impression on us both was Gregg Deal’s acrylic painting on wood panel, Defiant to Your Gods 2015. Because of the large size, this piece is easily visible from a far distance and contains many pop culture references that catches the familiar eye. In the center of the piece stands a young native indian girl wearing a white t-shirt with her hands raised to suggest her surroundings. Written on the white wall surrounding her is a collage of native indians stereotypes such as cartoons, and phrases.
These stereotypes were particularly striking because I recognized many, like Pocahontas, and the chief from Peter Pan, but never thought twice about the false implications these characters can have on a native’s identity. The search for identity is a recurring theme in the 21st century with a resurgence in the fight for equality within gender, race, and sexuality. Christopher Pullen and Margaret Cooper, …show more content…
The rejection of stereotypes as the focal point of the design is a characteristic that points to postmodernism, under the definition of postmodernism art that Mike Featherstone provides, “...the effacement of the boundary between art and everyday life,” along with mocking the “depthlessness of culture.” The ‘depthlessness’ of pop culture is clearly the culprit of damaging Native’s identity and is the most dominant symbol in Defiant to Your Gods. It was this open objection to beloved children’s culture that caught my eye, and gave me the epiphany of how harmful modern upbringings can still be. This kind of realization confronts the apathetic attitude that is imbedded in common minds. The expression of the Native girl, however, is not one of accusation, but resignation to these ideas forced on her from
These stereotypes were particularly striking because I recognized many, like Pocahontas, and the chief from Peter Pan, but never thought twice about the false implications these characters can have on a native’s identity. The search for identity is a recurring theme in the 21st century with a resurgence in the fight for equality within gender, race, and sexuality. Christopher Pullen and Margaret Cooper, …show more content…
The rejection of stereotypes as the focal point of the design is a characteristic that points to postmodernism, under the definition of postmodernism art that Mike Featherstone provides, “...the effacement of the boundary between art and everyday life,” along with mocking the “depthlessness of culture.” The ‘depthlessness’ of pop culture is clearly the culprit of damaging Native’s identity and is the most dominant symbol in Defiant to Your Gods. It was this open objection to beloved children’s culture that caught my eye, and gave me the epiphany of how harmful modern upbringings can still be. This kind of realization confronts the apathetic attitude that is imbedded in common minds. The expression of the Native girl, however, is not one of accusation, but resignation to these ideas forced on her from