Native American Motif

Address

1417 Cedar St. View on Google Maps
Green Bay, WI 54302

District

Olde Main Street District

About the Artist

Artist: Wes Martin

Artist Statement:
My art is a reflection of what I have come to call “The Great Experiment,” often referred to as Assimilation, or more precisely, the degree of native integration into “white” society. The work takes elements of traditional imagery presented in a modern medium, rooting itself deep in the contemporary “American” visual art conversation.

My background ideally reflects the derivation of my work, with a dual heritage of Bad River Chippewa and Eastern European. I was born in 1974; 50 years after Native Americans gained the rights of citizenship in 1924, with the 100-year anniversary of citizenship taking place the year of my 50th birthday. Along with the insight gained through the diverse perspective of having been raised on the Reservation and educated in Los Angeles, I feel that the combination of both time frame and environment allows me to be a perfect focus subject to display the outcome of assimilation using visual art to show the results of this cultural blending.

What is commonly expressed as American culture is often in direct contradiction with the traditional side of my life. Being as such, the line between assimilation and appropriation often gets blurred. The wide variety of locations, mediums and imagery in my work only adds a layer of interest to its role in modern Native American art