Brian Jungen

Brian Jungen is perhaps best known for his Prototypes for New Understanding (1998-2005), a series of reproduction Northwest Coast Aboriginal masks made from disassembled athletic shoes. That ingenious mash-up of two seemingly disparate hot commodities–globally branded footwear and revered First Nations artwork–reflects the artist’s own hybrid cultural identity, as both a member of the Doig River band, a tribe in British Columbia’s Dunne-za Nation, and a fixture of Vancouver’s thriving art scene, a position recently cemented by a show at the Tate Modern in London. Other meldings of consumer goods and common materials through which Jungen has explored the exchange of goods, ideas and cultures include a basketball court made of sewing tables and a whale skeleton built from plastic lawn chairs. All represent the Postmodern, postcolonial world with aplomb and a sense of humor. Includes an interview with the important postcolonial theorist Homi Bhaba.