Dennis Redmoon Darkeem
Trade Blanket /Good Trade
Good Trade re-creates the Native American custom of trade in an urban environment, allowing a mutual exchange between participants and creating a form of communication. I document the exchange of stories and items traded through photography.
About the artist
I am a visual and performance artist focused on highlighting the importance of the South Bronx community in my art. I am currently working on a series of two and three- dimensional works that include recycling items found in the community and re-purposing them to create fine art. My work is firmly rooted in my Native and African American background and reflected are many African and indigenous traditional motifs. I am inspired to create artwork based on the familiar objects that I view through my daily travels. I discover elements in existing architecture and among everyday items found within the home. I ultimately set out to express a meaningful story about events in my life and those found with the communities I work. I utilize different media in the creation of my work. This allows for great versatility and a rich viewer experience as the eye uncovers the multiple layers that often characterize mixed media art. Since my work as a professional artist has commenced in the early 2000s, it has evolved into critiquing social and political issues affecting Black American and indigenous Native American cultures. Much of my art has focused on issues like institutionalized racism and classism, jarring stereotypes, and displacement of people of color. As a multi-media artist, I express these motifs through drawings, paintings, collages, photography, sculpture, performance and installation. I seek to create a discussion through color, texture, symbolism, and geometric designs. My work evokes a historical memory and questions the status quo. Art has become a conduit connecting my artistic ideas and concepts to the public realm.
Photos: Ian Douglas
Trade Blanket /Good Trade
Good Trade re-creates the Native American custom of trade in an urban environment, allowing a mutual exchange between participants and creating a form of communication. I document the exchange of stories and items traded through photography.
About the artist
I am a visual and performance artist focused on highlighting the importance of the South Bronx community in my art. I am currently working on a series of two and three- dimensional works that include recycling items found in the community and re-purposing them to create fine art. My work is firmly rooted in my Native and African American background and reflected are many African and indigenous traditional motifs. I am inspired to create artwork based on the familiar objects that I view through my daily travels. I discover elements in existing architecture and among everyday items found within the home. I ultimately set out to express a meaningful story about events in my life and those found with the communities I work. I utilize different media in the creation of my work. This allows for great versatility and a rich viewer experience as the eye uncovers the multiple layers that often characterize mixed media art. Since my work as a professional artist has commenced in the early 2000s, it has evolved into critiquing social and political issues affecting Black American and indigenous Native American cultures. Much of my art has focused on issues like institutionalized racism and classism, jarring stereotypes, and displacement of people of color. As a multi-media artist, I express these motifs through drawings, paintings, collages, photography, sculpture, performance and installation. I seek to create a discussion through color, texture, symbolism, and geometric designs. My work evokes a historical memory and questions the status quo. Art has become a conduit connecting my artistic ideas and concepts to the public realm.
Photos: Ian Douglas
