Made in Native America, a third in a series of five guest-curated shows at ART123 Gallery, will open on Saturday, August 13. Curated by Laguna Pueblo artist Karl Bautista, the show highlights and explores complex issues of authenticity in Native American art and features four Indigenous artists, including Bautista.

“Native Americans are the only people who have to prove their pedigree. Our Native roots run deeper than any DNA or ancestry.com test,” says Bautista, pointing to the “Catch 22” that exists within Native art of needing to define, distinguish, and validate the category while also acknowledging the problematic history of blood quantum and other standards of tribal enrollment and debunking a static interpretation the concept of “tradition.”

“Because he is both an artist and gallery owner, Karl has a 360-degree perspective on the Native arts market and all of its challenges,” says gallupARTS Executive Director, Rose Eason. “At the end of the day, what Karl is about and what this show is about is Native self-expression and Native pride.”

Bautista is a screen printer and the owner of Rebel Prints gallery in Albuquerque.

The show also features:

  • Mackenzie Cheama, a tattoo and mixed media artist from the Pueblo of Zuni whose work pushes boundaries and redefines traditions.
  • Mallery Quetawki, a scientist and artist from the Pueblo of Zuni whose work focuses on bridging Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Indigenous Ways of Knowing with western concepts of science.
  • Jason Kinlicheenie, a Diné artist who has evolved his own style influenced by street and graffiti art.

A Virtual Sneak Peek of Made in Native America, will be live-streamed on the gallupARTS Facebook and Instagram pages on Saturday, August 13 at 11:45am.

The in-person Show Opening will be 7 – 9pm on Saturday, August 13 (during the downtown Gallup ArtsCrawl).

A Virtual Guest Curator Talk with Karl Bautista will be live-streamed on Thursday, August 18 at 6pm to the gallupARTS Facebook page.