Untitled (Patti Smith)

Born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Frank Big Bear is an acclaimed Ojibwe painter, draftsman, and printmaker, whose work explores the diverse social, political, and cultural realities of Native American life, past and present. Though Big Bear's work is nearly always representational, it is typically characterized by mosaic-like patterns of layered and interwoven forms and colors that produce a distinctive abstracted reality. Many of his compositions have a fragmented quality, reminiscent of Cubist canvases. For this work, however, Big Bear repurposed discarded invitations to a 2007 exhibition at Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis, which featured photographs by Frank Stefanko of rocker/poet Patti Smith. In adulterating and collaging the images, Big Bear pursues issues of cultural identity and political and social conflict.