On view now at King Galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is Charging Forward, a new two-artist show featuring the pottery of Kaa Folwell and the paintings of Derek No-Sun Brown.
The artists, who are partners outside of the studio, will be complementing each other’s works through the color and clay, texture and paint. “Kaa Folwell and Derek No-Sun Brown are strong voices to the future of Native art,” says gallery owner Charles King. “Their creativity and innovation reflects their culture and history, breathing new life into the art forms from a young generation.”
Kaa Folwell (Santa Clara), Modern Water Jar
Derek No-Sun Brown (Shoshone-Bannock/Klamath/Anishinabe), Go Rin No Sho, Sumi Ink and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36"
For Folwell, granddaughter of the great Jody Folwell, she’s thrilled at the opportunities a show like this will bring. “I am really excited to pair my work with Derek’s paintings. We live together and share most, if not all, aspects of life together being partners and parents,” she says. “But we typically don’t work side by side. Both works paired with one another will defiantly show both of our individual styles, but we will see the mediums complementing each other. You can also see how our tribal affiliations play a strong role in the imagery and designs we choose: Derek’s Shoshone-Bannock and Anishinabe roots shine in his paintings, where my work has a lot of Pueblo-inspired aesthetics incorporated into a contemporary manner. Typically we don’t often get to see Northern Native imagery and Pueblo designs next to one another, but the juxtaposition will be more complementary than not. The fluidity is visually apparent in both our work from the use of India ink dripping down the canvas, to marbling effects that highlight graffiti-inspired Pueblo designs around the pottery. A contemporary nod to our different Native heritage will represent how both of us are continuing to ‘Charge Forward.’”
Kaa Folwell (Santa Clara), Avanyu Graffiti, 7 x 12½"
For No-Sun Brown, his painted works have a minimalism to them, and also abstract qualities. “The new pieces…utilize an almost Zen Buddhist approach. It’s a simplified technique using only water, ink and a brush—I can express myself completely without distraction” he says. “When I approach the stark white canvas with the deep black ink, it already feels special, the possibilities are infinite and the first stroke leads the story. Sometimes I have an idea in mind, a figurative reference like an animal, but the completely freestyle pieces are what I love most. It’s the freedom of working with natural elements such as gravity, water and movement.”
Derek No-Sun Brown (Shoshone-Bannock/Klamath/Anishinabe), Power #1, Indian Ink on canvas
On the title of the show, the painter responds: “Charging forward is how I’ve always felt as an artist and a Native American person. Life and art should never be stagnant. We are water that trickles down slow from a melting glacier turning into powerful rivers carving through mountains and returning to the source to do it all again,” he says. “Everyone living right now on the planet is charging forward. We are the future and the past combined. We are alive.”
Charging Forward will continue at the gallery through November 28.
King Galleries
Through November 28, 2020
130 Lincoln Avenue, Suite D, Santa Fe, NM 87501
(480) 481-0187, www.kinggalleries.com
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