Beau Dick: Walas Gwa'yam / Big, Great Whale
Beau Dick (1955-2017, Kwakwaka'wakw) carved intricate and captivating masks from cedar that animated protests against colonial power as well as ceremonies within his Indigenous communities. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to see work by the renowned Indigenous artist in New York, who is widely revered in Canada but lesser known in the United States. Dick mastered cedar wood, dynamically conceptualizing and sculpting in the medium. The devil is in the details - the cheeks, noses, lips, eyebrows, eye sockets, and tongues are all rendered with intricacy and spatial complexity. These subtleties rightly earned Dick legendary status for expressive and visually arresting masks within his artistic tradition. -Daniel Larkin
Andrew Kreps Gallery (andrewkreps.com)
22 Cortlandt Alley, Tribeca, Manhattan
Through May 11
