Frank Big Bear

AIM and Art, 2014
photographic paper/paper, multi-panel collage on yardstick
Purchase, Acquisition Fund

This large-scale collage concentrates on the American Indian Movement (AIM), an advocacy group founded in July 1968 and headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, as well as the development of Native American Art. It contains specific references to artists such as George Morrison and Frank Big Bear’s son, Star Wallowing Bull.

Tom Arneson

The multi-panel collage consists of one hundred and forty-four 8 ½ x 6 inch individual collages. He created each piece by pasting photographic paper on identical postcards from his son, Star Wallowing Bull’s art exhibition at the Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis. The collages are arranged into a rectangular grid of 6 x 24 works. Within each college, the artist included images of the American Indian Movement (AIM) mixed with pictures of nature, consumer culture, and artwork from George Morrison, Fritz Shoulder, Edgar Heap of Birds, and more. The image depicted in one collage often continues onto the neighboring work, flowing from right to left. Each piece can be viewed individually or as a whole.