2 minute read
Norman Akers "Halfway There" 2020
NORMAN AKERS: "Halfway There"
SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART
2004 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64108 816.221.2626 | sherryleedy.com
Front Image: Different Directions Catalog Design: Allison King
September 4th - October 24th, 2020
Norman Aker’s paintings and prints seek to engage the viewer in important contemporary issues. Aker’s Osage identity and culture shape the visual narrative of personal and cultural survival expressed through his use of color, line and form.
Aker’s deeply felt concern regarding removal, disturbance, and struggle to regain cultural context, is carried by a vocabulary of images and symbols drawn from his Osage heritage and life experience. Tribal oral histories, maps, art historical reference and nature form Aker’s visual dialogue as he explores and continues the Native American storytelling tradition. Ancestral tribal stories are expanded with new and emerging stories that serve as allegories of transformation in an ever-changing world.
Current issues in the news, the concept of borders, immigration and the migration of people are current events working their way into Aker’s work. Especially in his prints, we find the question of the identity of the “other” entering into the visual discourse. Personal content has expanded to engage with current social issues as Aker’s explores the relationship that exists between fact and fiction, mirroring the present moment and echoing the past.
"Arrival II", Monoprint, 10” x 8”
"Different Directions", Monoprint, 9.75” x 7.5”
"Looking", Monoprint, 10.25” x 8”
"Retribution Study", Monoprint, 10” x 8”
"Orange Elk", Monoprint, 10” x 8”
"Reconstructing Arrival", Monoprint, 10” x 7.5”
"Crying Elk", Oil on canvas, 78” x 68”
"Invisible World", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 19.75” x 16”
"Tears to Water", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 21” x 16”
"Little House Effect", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 21.5” x 16”
"Passing Through", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 19.5” x 16”
"Drowning Elk", Oil on canvas, 78” x 68”
"Dark Reign", Lithograph, Ed 3/20, 20.75” x 16.5”
"Bridge", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 19.5” x 16”
"Framed by History", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 20.5” x 16”
"Alien Conquest", Lithograph, Ed 1/20, 20.5” x 15”
"Internalized Stories", Lithograph, Ed 2/20, 21.5” x 16”
"Dripping World", Oil on canvas, 78” x 68”
"Border Patrol II", Monoprint, 10” x 8.25”
"Obstacles", Monoprint, 9.5” x 8”
"Shadows of Old Money", Monoprint, 9.25” x 8.25”
"Two Places", Monoprint, 9.5” x 8”
"Uncertain Light", Monoprint, 10.75” x 8.5”
"Trying to Go Backwards", Monoprint, 10.75” x 8.25”
"Red Land in Darkness", Monoprint, 10.75” x 8.5”
"Occupation", Monoprint, 11” x 8”
SHERRY LEEDY CONTEMPORARY ART
2004 Baltimore Ave. Kansas City, MO 64108
816.221.2626 | sherryleedy.com
