Jeffrey Gibson at the Brooklyn Museum

Native people are seen as creative agents, rejecting the colonial gaze in a powerful presentation at the Brooklyn Museum organized by artist Jeffrey Gibson and curator and professor Christian Crouch.  Photos, text, ceramics and more from the institution’s Native American study collection and archives join Gibson’s own joyously colored paintings, sculpture and here, photography.  Dance emerges in the show as a healing act while Gibson’s costumes, inspired by 19th century Ghost Dance, offer protection.  (On view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art through Jan 10th).

Jeffrey Gibson, Roxy (Stand Your Ground), photographic prints, triptych, 2019.

 

Betty Parsons at Alexander Gray Associates

Famed art dealer Betty Parsons never gave up on her own artistic practice; this piece from her later years references Native American art, referring in its title to the Oglala Lakota. Created from driftwood she scavenged from the beach near her Long Island home, this colorful organic abstraction demonstrates her interest in mysticism that takes us beyond the every day realm. (At Alexander Gray Associates in Chelsea through July 14th).

Betty Parsons, II Oglala, acrylic on wood, 31 h x 33 w x 16 d, 1979.