RESERVATION X THE POWER OF PLACE IN ABORIGINAL CONTEMPORARY ART

Documents installations by seven North American artists who are part of a movement to return to the reservation. Also presents the essays Living on Reservation X, The Meaning of Life, Let X = Audience, and Lost O'Keeffes/Modern Primitives: the Culture of Native American Art. Distributed in the US by University of Washington Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Installation art is not everyone's cup of tea; it's difficult and challenging and often controversial. The exhibition for which this is the catalog consists of seven installation pieces by young artists of Native American origin. The show, scheduled to be at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York this July, is curated by the editor. The meat here extends beyond the art on display: four essays investigate the challenge of being Native American today, when tradition is being challenged and various tribal customs are being joined in a sense of communality. The essays are followed by interesting interviews with the artists, who come from very different tribal backgrounds and who talk about their work, identity, and community. There are numerous photographs of the installations as well as of the artists, their reservations, and other pieces of their work; a short list of selected references, biographies of the contributors, and an index to illustrations are appended. Not an easy art book, this is certainly challenging and thought-provoking; for larger academic and public libraries with Native American or modern art slants.AGay W. Neale, Southside Virginia Community Coll., Alberta
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.