Kirjahaku

Through painting, sculpture, installation, and film, Jeffrey Gibson brings together overlapping and conflicting cultures, histories, and aesthetics. Most recently he has explored notions of cultural and personal identity as they are communicated through aspects of adornment and dress. Highlighting his work from 2014 through 2018, including a series of garments and an original film that will debut as part of the accompanying exhibition at the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, this volume offers fresh insight into Gibson’s approach, which melds the artist’s Native American heritage with popular culture. Curated by Tracy L. Adler, Johnson- Pote Director of the Wellin Museum of Art, this selection of over fifty works features punching bags, paintings, beaded panels, and ceramics, among other works of art. An interview with Gibson by Adler and essays by Jane Panetta and Lowery Stokes Sims round out this beautiful book.

Sime’s brightly-colored sculptural tableaus feature found objects including thread, buttons, electrical wires, and computer detritus. This book highlights the artist’s work from the last decade, much of which comprises the series entitled “Tightrope.” Repurposing salvaged electronic components, such as circuits and keyboards, Sime incorporates the refuse that are the byproducts of technological advancement, and points to the urgency of sustainability. The resulting abstractions reference landscape and the figure as well as traditional Ethiopian textiles. “Tightrope” refers to the precarious balance between the progress technology has made possible and its detrimental impact on the environment.