Native Common Sense: Fritz Scholder Paints It

FRITZ SCHOLDER CHIPS AWAY at traditional notions of American Indian art, moving from feathered headdresses toward a more realistic examination of contemporary Native American life.

"Indian/Not Indian," a new exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian, presents an overview of Scholder's work, from the candy-colored frontier scene "Four Indian Riders" to the shadowy and introspective portrait of an "Indian Contemplating Columbus."

One-fourth Luiseno, Scholder was teaching at the American Indian Institute for the Arts in Santa Fe, N.M., when he saw his students questioning their Indian heritage. They inspired Scholder to launch his "Indian" series, challenging traditionally "Not Indian" notions, as in "Indian With Beer Can," in which playground adversaries cowboy and Indian become indistinguishable.

Scholder studied with pop painter Wayne Thiebaud at Sacramento City College, and those pop art sensibilities are apparent here, as are the influences of Paul Gauguin and Francis Bacon. Scholder's brightly colored works touch on other subjects — vampires, for one. (The artist even traveled to Transylvania.) As Scholder has aged, his paintings and sculptures appear to contemplate mortality; one piece is of skulls painted using his own blood mixed with Diet Coke.

The second part of "Indian/Not Indian," with work Scholder created while living in New York in the 1980s, runs concurrently at Manhattan's George Gustav Heye Center.

» National Museum of the American Indian, 4th Street & Independence Avenue SW; 202-633-3030, nmai.si.edu. (L'Enfant Plaza)

Written by Amy Cavanaugh for Express
Photo courtesy NMAI