All My Relations Arts Opens New Frank Buffalo Hyde Exhibition

If you were to tell a young Frank Buffalo Hyde that he would one day become a successful artist, it wouldn’t be that surprising. After all, creativity runs in the family.

Born in New Mexico and raised in New York on his mother’s reservation in Onondaga, with annual summer trips to Santa Fe to see his father, Hyde gained a well-rounded view of the arts from an early age. His family was already absorbed in the art world, with a mother who was a modern dancer, a father who was a stone sculptor, and uncles who were painters to boot. And although Hyde initially followed in the artistic footsteps of his forerunners, he discovered that his true passion lay on a stage, not a canvas.

At that time, music was Hyde’s life project, not painting. He started a rock band in Syracuse called “No Good Reason” with his friends, and from age 14 to 18 the group sought stardom, moving from open mic nights in bars to iconic concert venues across the country. countries, including Northrop. The group even landed a spot on a music CD alongside Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls for a Honor the Earth Campaign at the end of the 90s.

When life as a local Syracuse celebrity grew old, Hyde made the decision to leave the music business behind and enrolled in college at the Institute of American Indian Arts for what he thought would be a degree in creative writing. It wasn’t until he took his first arts elective, a regular studio course, that inspiration really struck him.

“That’s really where the bug set in,” Hyde said. “For example, I was slowly not turning in my writing assignments on time because I was spending so much time in painting studios. When I started, I knew I was going to be committed to living this life for the long haul, and I’m very lucky to have people with me on my journey who are still interested in what I do. »

At age 21, he decided to make art his full-time career, working in his studio and emulating his biggest artistic inspirations in a variety of styles, from Andy Warhol to Robert Rauschenberg. Nearly 30 years later, Hyde, who now lives in Northfield, has exhibited his artwork across the country, from the college where he graduated, to the Smithsonian, to here in the North Star State, at All My Relations Arts in Minneapolis.

Hyde’s art style is unique and unapologetic. Subverting stereotypes is Hyde’s trade when it comes to his paintings, taking pop culture and studying it through a Native American lens in an effort to show how commodified and commercialized its culture has become.

“My work exists in this distance between the incomprehension of appropriation and commodification,” Hyde said.

In the past, many of his collections have addressed and confronted head-on several cultural appropriations that have occurred in the public eye. In 2013, he released a collection of paintings titled “In-Appropriate,” a series of satirical portraits depicting people wearing Native American regalia. One of the paintings, featuring singer Gwen Stefani in a Native American headdress, was created in direct response to the singer’s band “No Doubt.” In 2012, the group faced backlash online after uploading a music video for their song “Looking Hot”, which was quickly removed due to the group’s appropriation of Native American imagery and themes.

Hyde’s current exhibition, titled ALTERNATIVE, is a collection of earlier paintings and sculptures he created over the years. The exhibition covers a variety of topics, from pop culture to social media to technology, with a thread of allegorical satire designed to make anyone who views it think and reconsider.

“In the age of the Internet, if I can make the viewer slow down for more than five seconds or create a conversation, then I’ve done my job,” Hyde said in an interview with PBS.

Despite the common themes of cultural commodification that constitute the driving forces of his works, Hyde’s style is constantly evolving, a quality he says he accepts with enthusiasm. Much of the art world, he says, is dictated by what the market thinks is likely to sell or be well received. A standard was also set for what Native American art should look like, a standard that Hyde actively works to counter and refute.

“These are choices I made to not divulge any sort of cultural knowledge in my work. I started using more brands and intentionally not having paints that had feathers in them. This is a freedom that non-Indigenous artists have. In this exhibition, I explore the freedom of contemporary (indigenous) art devoid of cultural cues,” Hyde said.

Hyde’s decision to swim against the tide and carve out his own place in the art world is the result of what he calls the responsibility of the artist.

“I think an artist’s responsibility to their community is to document the times in which they live. To comment on it and, if necessary, to criticize it. I think art was born out of (activism). It’s a megaphone for people, the megaphone for culture to be heard,” Hyde said.

ALTERNATIVE is on view through July 13 at All My Relations Arts in Minneapolis. On May 31, Hyde will stop by for an artist talk from 5 to 7 p.m. Free entry.