Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun facts for kids

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is a Tsartlip/Syilx First Nations artist from Canada. He creates modern art that mixes traditional Indigenous art styles with a dream-like art style called Surrealism. He uses his art to talk about important topics like protecting the environment, who owns the land, and how First Nations people are treated in Canada.

Growing Up and Education

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun was born in Kamloops, British Columbia in 1957. He spent his childhood in Kamloops and Richmond, British Columbia. His father, Benjamin Raphael Paul, was from the Cowichan Tribes, a Coast Salish First Nation. His mother, Evelyn Paul, was Syilx, part of the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

Family's Political Involvement

Yuxweluptun grew up in a family that was very involved in politics. His father was a strong leader and helped start the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs. His mother was also active in important groups, including leading the Indian Homemakers Association of British Columbia. Lawrence often went to these meetings with his parents.

Even though he was first encouraged to go into politics, Yuxweluptun chose to use his art to speak out. He believes that artists must "watch, observe, and participate in what's going on" to record important events and ideas. His paintings, drawings, and sculptures share his concerns about land rights, unfair policies, and harm to the environment.

Cultural Traditions and Art School

Yuxweluptun also stayed connected to Coast Salish traditions. When he was fourteen, he was given the right to dance with the X̱wáýx̱way mask. At seventeen, he became a Black Face dancer. His name, Yuxweluptun, means "man of many masks." It was given to him by the Sxwaixwe Society when he was a teenager.

He studied art at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design (now a university) in Vancouver. He graduated in 1983 with an honors degree in painting.

Art Style and Meaning

Yuxweluptun mainly creates paintings, but he also makes multimedia art and sculptures. Many of his artworks show elements of Surrealism, an art style that uses dream-like images to explore deeper truths. His work sometimes reminds people of the melting objects painted by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí.

Blending Art Traditions

His art combines traditional elements from Northwest First Nations art with ideas from Canadian landscape painting, like the style of the Group of Seven. This mix of styles makes his art unique.

Important Messages in Art

Environmental issues are often a main focus in Yuxweluptun's art. His paintings often have strong political messages and titles. They highlight problems with land use and who owns the land. His art is often described as "provocative" because it makes people think. For example, his multimedia piece Residential School Dirty Laundry uses children's underwear and red paint to represent the difficult experiences of First Nations children in the Canadian Indian residential school system.

Yuxweluptun is known for being one of the most direct artists in Canada. He shows the tough realities faced by many Indigenous people. He does this by blending Northwest Coast art shapes, like ovoids and formlines, with the dream-like look of Surrealism. He developed this special style while he was a student at Emily Carr University.

Challenging Ideas of Identity

Yuxweluptun's art also challenges how Native identity is seen. He uses a mix of traditional art styles from different First Nations, which was new and sometimes debated at first. He explains that painting in a more general Northwest Coast style helps him show "the imaginary Indian" or "the symbolic Native." This means the figures in his paintings are not always real people or specific ceremonies. Instead, they comment on how Native identity has been understood by others.

One of his most important contributions to Canadian landscape painting is his "politicized landscape." His paintings show harsh realities, like forests destroyed by logging, polluted water, and poverty. These scenes are like powerful nightmares, painted with bright, intense colors that are hard to ignore. His work helps change the way Native art is viewed in Canadian modern art.

Notable Artworks

Inherent Rights, Vision Rights

Inherent Rights, Vision Rights was one of the first Virtual Reality (VR) artworks ever made in Canada. It was created between 1991 and 1993. This artwork used computers, special sound, and unique controls to create an immersive experience. It was also the first VR piece shown by the National Gallery of Canada.

This artwork used new ways to show VR art. It combined computer-generated 3D sound with figures from Yuxweluptun's paintings. Instead of wearing a helmet, viewers entered a special booth, like an old-fashioned stereoscope. Inside, they experienced the sounds and computer graphics. The booth looked like a Longhouse and was filled with Yuxweluptun's animal spirits and ghosts.

Haida Hot Dog

Created in 1984, Haida Hot Dog is one of Yuxweluptun's earlier works. It uses a pop-art style to comment on how First Nations art, especially Haida art, has been turned into something to be bought and sold.

Scorched Earth, Clear-cut Logging on Native Sovereign Land

This powerful painting, made in 1991, shows the impact of logging on Indigenous lands. It was one of the first artworks bought by the National Gallery of Canada from an exhibition called Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada.

Yuxweluptun explained in 1992 that his work is different from traditional art. He said, "How do you paint a land claim? You can't carve a totem pole that has a beer bottle on it... I paint this for what it is – a very toxic land base. This is what my ancestral motherland is becoming." He sees painting as a way to take political action and speak out, even without formal self-government.

Awards and Recognition

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun has received several awards and honors for his important contributions to art:

• In 1998, he received the Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts (VIVA) award.
• In 2013, he was given a fellowship at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis.
• In 2019, he received an Honorary doctorate from Emily Carr University, his former art school.

Exhibitions

Yuxweluptun's art has been shown in many group and solo exhibitions around the world.

Key Exhibitions

• INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives (1992-1993): This was a major traveling exhibition of Indigenous art. Yuxweluptun was the only artist included in both INDIGENA and Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada. These exhibitions were very important for bringing new Indigenous artists to national attention.
• Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Born to Live and Die on Your Colonialist Reservations (1993): This was his first and only major career survey exhibition, held at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in Vancouver. It highlighted how his work challenged traditional Canadian landscape painting.
• 75 Years of Collecting (2006): His work was part of the Vancouver Art Gallery's 75th-anniversary exhibition, which showcased the gallery's large collection.
• Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (2009): The Western Front presented a single painting, Guardian Spirits on the Land: Ceremony of Sovereignty (2000), alongside science fiction novels.
• Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Neo-Native Drawings and Other Works (2010): This exhibit at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver featured three decades of his drawings.
• Shore, Forest and Beyond: Art From the Audain Collection (2011-2012): This exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery featured 100 works from the collection of Michael Audain.
• Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art (2013): Yuxweluptun's work was part of this special exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada, which was the largest global survey of contemporary Indigenous art at the time.
• Unceded Territories (2016): A solo exhibition at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia.

Other Exhibitions

His work has also been shown in:

• Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: Time Immemorial (You're Just Mad Because We Got Here First), Galerie Canada Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2017.
• Colour Zone, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2009.
• An Indian Act: Shooting the Indian Act, Locus+, Newcastle, UK, 1997.
• Inherent Rights, Vision Rights: Virtual Reality Paintings and Drawings, Canadian Embassy, Paris, 1993.
• True North: The Landscape Tradition in Contemporary Canadian Art, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan.
• New Territories: 350/500 Years After, Montreal, Quebec (touring).
• In the Shadow of the Sun, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec, 1988.
• The Warehouse Show, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1983.