Assu takes a fresh look at West Coast art

Contemporary artist Sonny Assu has a knack for infusing the politics of modern pop culture with traditional First Nations style, and his latest works are no exception.
In his exhibit entitled ‘Longing,’ Assu, a member of the Laichwiltach First Nation on Vancouver Island, takes a modern look at the meaning of reclamation in the way only a contemporary artist can, by examining Aboriginal West Coast tradition and analyzing where renewable resources and disgarded objects fit in the face of growing big business consumerism.

On display at the West Vancouver Museum, Assu’s exhibit boasts a series of uncarved, reclaimed raw chunks of cedar; leftovers from a logged woodlot used for his Campbell River band’s economic development ventures.
The message in Assu’s exhibit is a bold one and it illuminates the intrinsic connection Aboriginal people have to their culture and how issues such as land claims, economic development and modern consumption color their lives.

His pop culture-style of art screams as loud as the raw prefabricated masks he based his exhibit on, and in such, the message is clear: All objects, especially those considered sacred and traditional, demand to belong.
Although the pieces in the exhibit have been untouched by the artist, they look as though they have taken on their own identities as traditional West Coast ceremonial masks used and revered by the artist’s community for generations.

“I was really trying to figure out if I wanted to do anything with them, like carve them or sand them,” Assu explained. “But as I was sitting there looking at these things for five years I realized that they do have their own faces, they do have their own lives and they do have their own souls,” he said.

“These pieces are longing to be something else,” Assu continued. “They’re longing to be that totem pole, they’re longing to be part of that ceremony, but in the eyes of consumption and consumerism they never had that chance,” he explained.

Assu said he listened to the natural beauty screaming out in these haunting pieces and simply helped them become something they desired to be.

“I’ve given them that artistic life, that artistic vision, that artistic quality,” he said. “I fulfilled their destiny, really,” he said.

Tanya Kim, a friend of Assu’s, said his art is innovative and challenging.

“His work re-conceptualizes ancient works and makes them meaningful in the modern context,” she said.

“There’s always been a sort of majesty about his works,” she continued. “He just tends to bring out the glory of unforgotten things.”

“One of the roles of an artist is to make you see things differently and I think that’s what he’s doing,” she added.
“I think it’s about the challenge and the fascination of how we might look at objects and certainly masks,” said Barry Downs who attended the exhibit opening night on Sept. 13 in West Vancouver.

According to Deborah Jacobs of the Squamish First Nation, the exhibit sends a “very important message.”

“Masks, in a sense, tie us [First Nations] to a sacredness of what is our belonging and of what is our inheritance” she said.

“When an artist is creating a piece, they’re bringing it to life and they put life into a piece,” she added.

“And in its unfinished state, [artwork] speaks to us of needing to have some sense of fullness and completion,” she explained.

Asked whether contemporary First Nation art can hold its own in a market primarily based on traditional stylization, Jacobs said “absolutely.”

“Our cultures are never static. They always continue to evolve,” she said.

“The wonderful voice that young artists bring in terms of their interpretations make our culture that much more vibrant,” Jacobs added.

“I am, without question, a big fan of Sonny,” Jacobs concluded.

“I think Native art is whatever you define it to be,” explained Pam Brown, curator for the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.
“It’s very contemporary,” she said of Assu’s work.
Diane King, who met Assu while they were both in college, said his art reflects his character.

“This is Sonny’s form of Native art,” she said. “He is a modern man with modern sensibilities and modern concerns and he is so in touch with his traditions that he is able to pull it together and make a message that maybe someone hasn’t thought about before,” she said.
“It’s about progress,” added Nisga’a artist Vince Fairleigh. “It’s not traditional, but it’s still Native art,” he said.
That said, Fairleigh admits that his opinion on what defines art is more relaxed than most.

“My interpretation of art is, if you put it on your front door and no one takes it, it’s not art,” he laughed.
But by all contemporary and aesthetic definitions, Assu’s work is not only considered art, it is exemplary of a movement set on redirecting and reclaiming the idea of First Nations art.

”We’re blurring the categories,” explained Shawn Hunt, contemporary Heiltsuk First Nation artist.” It’s about blurring the lines and challenging the boundaries,” he said.

“We’re put in these categories arbitrarily,” Hunt continued. “It’s nice to just burst out of them,” he added.
“I’m breaking it apart,” Assu said of the traditional art style. “I’m removing the tradition and inserting the contemporary.”

Assu, who said he would rather be known as an “artist who happens to be First Nations,” than a First Nations artist, calls his works “the abstraction of abstraction.” He said that even traditional West Coast Native art has abstract qualities in how the lines, ovoids and designs are implemented and his work just takes a further step into that notion of abstraction.

Contemporary art is not only political and thought-provoking it also has the ability to promote growth and inspire change, said Assu.

“I feel contemporary art is relevant to help push the culture forward,” he said.

“It’s a way of helping our culture grow and develop [and] it helps us as First Nations people reclaim our culture for ourselves.”

Sonny Assu’s exhibit ‘Longing’ can be seen at the West Vancouver Gallery until Nov. 5.

Visit the Web site at http://westvancouvermuseum.ca/

PHOTO: Shauna Lewis