Jeffrey Gibson

[3][4] In 2024, Gibson represented the United States at the Venice Biennale, where he is the first Indigenous artist to have a solo exhibition in the American pavilion.

[7] As a child, he lived in North Carolina, New Jersey, West Germany, and South Korea,[4][10] moving frequently because his father worked as a civil engineer for the United States Department of Defense.

Gibson remarked on this opportunity provided for him: "My community has supported me ... My chief felt that me going there, being a strong artist, made him stronger.

My desire to act out the role of an explorer depicting an inviting landscape, via painting and specimen retrieval, was a reaction to Native tribes' being consistently described as part of a nostalgic and romantic vision of pre-colonized Indian life.

[16] His work has featured the use of mixed media including Native American beadwork, trading post blankets, metal studs, fringe, and jingles.

[17] Gibson is represented by Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York, and Stephen Friedman Gallery in London.

[18] Pow-wows, nightclubs, and raves provide contrasts as rural and urban venues, serving as spaces for dancing, movement, and dramatic fashion/regalia.

Keeping with regalia, 19th-century Iroquois beadwork also provides inspiration, as colorful beads often find their way into Gibson's artworks.

He is recycling found objects such as antique shaving mirrors and ironing boards and covers them in untanned deer, goat, or elk skin.

Writer Ben Judson described Totems as way Gibson "uses the stereotyping of his own people as a way of exploring the use of metaphor in identity formation, cultural critique and consumerism without forfeiting lyricism or indulging in self-righteousness (apart, that is, from his press release).

"[14][23] Gibson's abstract works have been compared to artists such as Martin Johnson Heade, Cy Twombly, Chris Ofili, and Indigenous Australian art.

[12][17] Gibson has also exhibited at numerous events such as the New Art Dealers Alliance Fair, ARCOmadrid, as well as many private galleries and public institutions.

Watchtower , A Little Bit Louder , and WITHOUT YOU I'M NOTHING (2018), Smithsonian American Art Museum