Jeffrey A. Gibson (Born 1972) Native American, Mixed Media Figural Wall Sculpture. Indigenous figure wrapped in purple and blue robes with a matching hat in an almost bottle-shaped form. Hanger attached to back. Signed J. Gibson and dated 1991, meaning this piece is from the very beginning of his career. 

Condition: Some scratches on the front. Signs of repair to the feather in the figure's hat. 

Size: 48 1/2 x 12 in. 

Jeffrey A. Gibson was born on March 31st, 1972 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His mother was of the Cherokee Nation, and his father was a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. His parents came from a background of poverty and both attended boarding schools where the Native American children were often abused, and they never shied away from telling him about the trials and tribulations of their people in addition to instilling tremendous pride in him for his heritage. As a youth he lived in North Carolina, New Jersey, West Germany, and South Korea, moving frequently because his father worked as a civil engineer for the United States Department of Defense. This exposed him to numerous art forms and styles which he eventually began to emulate and combine into his own unique concepts. Gibson earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1995 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1998 he received his Master of Fine Arts from the Royal College of Art in London, where he focused on painting, with his education sponsored by the chief of the Mississippi Choctaw. Gibson has identified as queer and gay, and is married to Norwegian artist Rune Olsen with whom he has a daughter and son. His art often deals with issues of identity and labels, and has featured mixed media including Native American beadwork, trading post blankets, metal studs, fringe, and jingles. Airbrushing is another common tool used in his paintings, sculptures, and prints, incorporating oil paint and spray paint to create neon colored abstracts such as Singular (2008) and Submerge (2007). Gibson is represented by Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York, and Stephen Friedman Gallery in London. In 2010 he was a visiting artist at the California College of the Arts, which led him to become the artist in residence at Bard College, where he continues to work as well as teaching studio art courses. In 2024 Gibson represented the United States in the Venice Biennale with a solo survey exhibition in the United States Pavilion, titled The Space in Which to Place Me, making him the first Indigenous artist to represent the United States with a full pavilion show in the history of the event. Today he is considered one of the most celebrated artists bridging the gap between Native and non-Native forms, straddling Pop Art, surrealism, and traditional aesthetics at once, with permanent collections of his work around the United States at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, the Speed Art Museum, and Whitney Museum of American Art, to name just a few.

Some scratches on the front. Signs of repair to the feather in the figure's hat.