Description
Over the last 15 years, a select group of professionally trained and
politically astute Canadian artists of Native ancestry has produced a
compelling body of work that owes much of its power to a wry and ironic
sense of humour rooted firmly in the oral tradition. More than a
critical/political strategy, such humour reflects a widespread cultural
and communal sensibility embodied in the mythical Native American
Trickster. This book explores the influence of this comic spirit on the
practice of various artists through the presentation of a
'Trickster discourse,' that is, a body of overlapping and
interrelated verbal and visual narratives by tricksters and about
trickster practice.
Reviews
Allan J. Ryan comprehensively documents the work of some of these artists, and their reintegration of the persistently humourous archetype ... there's nothing dry about this book except its wit.
- David Leach
A lavishly illustrated book ... visually stunning ... The art in this book highlights the profound differences between our two cultures, but builds some bridges between them too.
- Vivien Hoyt Fleisher
Definitely disturbing and certainly immediate, this wonderful book brings together the work of some of these edgy young artist ... Ryan ... celebrates the pervasive use of the old trickster humor ... The result is the kind of modern art many find hard to handle: comic strip or graffiti, performance art or poetry, montage or assemblage, and always in-your-face ... While this book is challenging and possibly offensive, it is a brave attempt to raise readers to new levels of conciousness.
- Library Journal