offsite« back

Buffalo Boy’s Battle of Little Bighorny (M:ST4)

Adrian Stimson (Saskatoon, SK)
Runs from October 11, 2008 through to October 11, 2008
@ The University of Calgary in the Boris Roubakine Recital Hall

This video installation and performance will parody Buffalo Bill’s recreation of the “Indian Wars” in his Wild West show, specifically the “Battle of Little Bighorn”. In essence it will be a re – recreation, like a rumor gone wild a la Buffalo Boy, Adrian Stimson’s performance alter ego. This performance will loosely follow the film “Little Big Man”, specifically the battle scene in which Colonel George Armstrong Custer makes his last stand.

Presented in conjunction with Mountain Standard Time Performative Arts Festival and The University of Calgary, Department of Fine Art.

 

---

 

Articles:

Artist Breaks Down Preconceptions by Jordyn Marcellus

 

---

 

Adrian Stimson

Adrian Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta. He is an interdisciplinary artist with a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art & Design and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan.

Adrian is currently Associate curator at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. At the Mendel he also completed both the aboriginal curator and artist in residence through the Canada Council and Saskatchewan Arts Board. Adrian is a session instructor at the University of Saskatchewan and has written articles in Blackflash magazine and several Mendel publications.

Adrian’s curatorial projects include; Articulations a series of exhibitions under the Canada Councils curator in residence program. Emotional Geographies- Works from the Mendel’s 60’s and 70’s collection, The Easy Magic Machine – Barrett Russell, LIVE/LIVE, ArtsUp, SNAG and An Aboriginal Affair.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Adrian’s work includes paintings called Tarred & Feathered Bison utilizing tar and feathers as a contemporary material, which speaks to ideas of punishment and identity. His installation work utilizes residential school fragments as a post-colonial investigation. He has created "Buffalo Boy," a character parody of Buffalo Bill. "Buffalo Boy's Wild West Peep Show", "Buffalo Boy Getting it from 4 directions” and MFA exhibit “Buffalo Boy’s Heart On” are performances and exhibits that re-signify colonial history. Recent exhibits include “Sick and Tired” at the grunt gallery in Vancouver and a video called “Gambling the Prairie Winnings” in the “Back Talk” exhibition at the Dunlop Art Gallery in Regina. Bison Heart a series of oil and graphite paintings at the Nouveau Gallery in Regina.

Adrian was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003 and the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 for his human rights and diversity activism in various communities.