experience art

A Bad Colonial Day

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a multi-media artist, a performance artist, and a sculptor. He has experimented with virtual-reality based artwork and he traveled to England to perform An Indian Act: Shooting the Indian Act.

He may be best known, however, for his paintings that incorporate elements traditionally associated with Northwest Coast art: 'ovoids', 'u-shapes' and other conventions and motifs. These elements are reconfigured and re-presented as parts of larger tableaus that draw upon traditions of twentieth century European painting, resulting in bright, yet stark, hybridised landscapes.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun's painted world becomes the site for asserting the artist's First Nations heritage and for critiquing the abuse of land, revealing environmental problems that have stemmed from land appropriation and the pursuit of values that run contrary to those traditionally held by First Nation's peoples.

Yuxweluptun's work is specific to BC but resonates widely beyond our provincial borders. His focus on land and environmental issues, particularly in light of recent developments regarding BC land claims, and the ongoing debate around logging and other resource extraction practices, make his work timely and relevant to us all.

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a contemporary artist of Coast Salish ancestry now living in Vancouver. He has exhibited internationally.

Work for this exhibition has been borrowed from the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada and the Buschlen-Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, BC. Project support was received from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Spirit of BC Arts Fund. The Two Rivers Gallery is grateful for the support of these organizations.