Source: The Santa Fe New MexicanAug.文件倉 16--It would not be wholly accurate to say that Dine artist Shonto Begay rejects idyllic, romantic depictions of Native subjects -- such as those that dominated painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries -- in favor of showing harsher, more honest realities of contemporary reservation life. Begay brings Navajo history, autobiographical content, and social and political issues into his holistic vision, to be sure, but he also has an ecstatic reverence for nature, land, and people. Begay's work reflects something of older painting styles, particularly social realism as seen in works by Thomas Hart Benton -- some of whose pieces he first encountered as a child -- and also of the paint treatment and palette of Oscar Berninghaus. Begay, a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts who began painting professionally in the early 1980s, avoids the Pop style that dominates, even today, much of the work of IAIA students. Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery presents an exhibit of new work by Begay, opening Indian Market weekend."I work in this manner that's sort of my own neo-Impressionism and set in my own unconventional reality," Begay told Pasatiempo. "I paint with an impressionistic sensibility. I think it derives from the whole idea of reciting the chants, the ancient prayers. Every syllable of every word is recited to maintain the beauty. So, each stroke, each line, each color, dot, and dash -- to me, those are syllables to the holy words I grew up with. I grew up in the rhythm of late-night chants, songs, and of course, the creation of holy sand paintings. I think a lot of the vision is coming from that. It's a very conscious application, a very conscious gesture."Begay was born to a traditional Dine family and belongs to the Bitter Water clan on his mother's side and the Salt clan on his father's. His father was a medicine man and his mother a weaver and sheep herder. Begay belonged to a generation of Native children who were forcibly removed by the federal government from their families to attend Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools. The program was intended to assimilate Native children into American society. They were discouraged from speaking their own language and practicing their own religion. The trauma and pain of the experience is something that Begay still turns to as subject matter for his work. "Painting is my own saving grace. In the brutal institution of the government boarding school, when I was growing up, this is how I survived, to be always removing myself from harsh reality and live in that world of beauty I have the power to create with my hand."In boarding school, Begay worked in secret, away from prying eyes. "That made it eve存倉 more special because it was very covert. At a young age, just being aware of the things that were taken away from us -- your family, your culture, your language -- forcibly, nine months out of the year, was very brutal. I think I honor that by continuing with art, because a lot of young boys I grew up with did not have an outlet for the angst, and a lot of them did not survive. In fact, of the probably 15 boys I grew up with in boarding school, there's only three of us alive today. I'm sort of documenting my life, my world, my pain, my joys. Also I'm honoring other people who did not make it."The communal experience of boarding-school children, wrecked cars on the reservation, Native people harassed by the police, homelessness, hitchhikers -- these are the realities Begay paints. He also paints landscapes and mystic, sun-dappled visions of people who have continued to live a traditional life in a contemporary context, all of them rendered in swirling compositions in which every element seems interconnected to the whole. Halo of the Elder's Tree, Black Mesa Sunrise, and Grandfather's Late Light, all included in the show, have a hallucinatory vividness. Always, it seems, a natural, brilliant light shines through his work, expressing the Navajo concept of hozho, of harmony and balance, despite the sometimes grim subject matter. "I don't want to do postcard-y stuff," he said. "I just want it to speak for me and to me. I live in a time of cellphones and this time I try to document. But, at the same time, I know the pain that brought us here. Doing art has always been more than for financial gain or anything like that. It's always been about staying alive."Today, Begay discusses his art and life with audiences of all ages at a variety of venues including schools. Inspirational talks and art demonstrations teach children the value of art as means of self-expression. "I think the whole thing of using the very act of painting, the very act of brush on canvas is a gift. Young people today, I talk to them, and a lot of them have already associated their gift, their talent with money, with financial gain. I tell them that this is not how I did it. They associate their work so early with fame and a five-year plan. I've always allowed the beautiful muse to dictate. I was never in a hurry. I just honor the intense, profound beauty of my life and of the area I grew up in."details--Shonto Begay: New Works--Opening reception 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16; through Aug. 30--Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, 602-A Canyon Road, 820-7451Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at .santafenewmexican.com Distributed by MCT Information Services自存倉
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