Exhibition of the paintings Jim Denomie created between 1994 and 2004, the work that laid the foundation for his later art.
Bockley Gallery is showing Renegade, a collection of paintings by Jim Denomie (Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, 1955–2022), on view through October 31. The exhibition brings together the work he created between 1994 and 2004, the decade that laid the foundation for everything he did later. Denomie was an Ojibwe artist from Hayward, Wisconsin, who lived here in Minneapolis, and he didn't actually start studying and making art until he enrolled as an older student at the University of Minnesota. He earned degrees in Studio Art and American Indian Studies there, and he was shaped by fellow Ojibwe artist George Morrison, who founded the university's American Indian studies department.
His signature style is on full display here: bold, brightly colored paintings dominated by mesas, which he used as a metaphor for the reservations the U.S. government imagined to confine and contain Native Americans. In Renegade, that style is pushed to a satirical edge. Winged horses and masked riders fly past tipis, Christmas trees, coffins, crosses, nuclear reactors, an oil derrick, and a casino. It's a strange, crowded landscape where the traditional and the absurd sit right next to each other.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Minneapolis and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
The show is accompanied by an essay titled "Origin Story" by Robert Cozzolino, which draws on Denomie's student sketchbooks and gives a look at how his work developed from the start. If you've followed his later paintings, this is a chance to see the early years that set the stage. Renegade runs at Bockley Gallery through October 31.
