Exhibition celebrates works by Kiowa artists

Comments 0
Published: November 1, 2009
Modified: October 31, 2009 at 11:49 am

NORMAN — A small show of the multimedia art of contemporary Kiowa artist Thomas Poolaw and the historic photographs of his grandfather, Horace Poolaw (1906-1984), have plenty to hold the viewer’s attention. The exhibit is on view through Nov. 19 at the Jacobson House Native Art Center.

A black-and-white image by Horace Poolaw.Photo provided by the University of Oklahoma

Multimedia

Photoview all photos

More Info

ART REVIEW

"Perspective on Poolaw: The Art of Thomas Poolaw and the Influence of Horace Poolaw”

→When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays through Nov. 19.

→Where: Jacobson House Native Art Center, 609 Chautauqua, Norman.

→Information: 366-1667 or go online to www.

jacobsonhouse.com.

An Indian archer named "Hunting Horse,” about to shoot an arrow, wearing a beaded neck piece and a buffalo skin around his waist, has a powerful presence in a vintage hand colored photo by the elder Poolaw. Equally memorable is the late photographer’s hand colored photo of "Silverhorn,” standing erect, holding arrows in his hand, wearing leather, a fur hat, a brown vest, beads, body paint and moccasins.

Haunting black-and-white photos by Horace Poolaw are of a couple in front of their tepee, of a woman with a baby in a cradleboard, and a man wearing a headdress, holding a staff and a feather fan. A Norman artist who says he was "heavily influenced” by his grandfather during his youth in Anadarko, Thomas Poolaw is a 1992 art graduate of the University of Oklahoma who has shown his work nationally.

A bird-like creature seems to have risen up or be dancing under the stars in a flat turquoise blue sky in a 2009 acrylic painting which Poolaw calls "Red Lightning: Rainbow Road.”

Other imagery in "Red Lightning: Rainbow Road” includes red triangular bolts striking a pyramid-like object that is adorned with polka dots, in front of a landscape that is banded green.

Dark "Eyes” look out at us from a blotchy, multicolored background, over geometric symbols and the streamlined, abstract silhouette of a blue tepee in a 2007 acrylic by Poolaw. There is a strong aura of mystery about Poolaw’s small 1992 oil of "Firedancers,” wearing ornate headdresses, dancing under the stars and red sparks.

A "Red Grid” gives a more contemporary feel to his 2009 digital photograph of blue-hued Indian dancers in front of a red-violet hill.

Even more edgy and provocative is "So … I Told You …,” a 2008 digital print by Poolaw in which three feathers float over an old photo of grazing buffalo, under an image of red lips and teeth.

Curated by Yvonne Tiger, the "Perspective on Poolaw: The Art of Thomas Poolaw and the Influence of Horace Poolaw” show is well worth visiting.

— John Brandenburg