challenges stereotypes and unacknowledged assumptions.Trade (Gifts
for Trading Land with White People;FIG. 36-46) is a large-scale paint-
ing with collage elements and attached objects, reminiscent of a
Rauschenberg combine (FIG. 36-22). The painting’s central image, a ca-
noe, appears in an expansive field painted in loose Abstract Expression-
ist fashion and covered with clippings from Native American newspa-
pers. Above the painting, as if hung from a clothesline, is an array of
objects. These include Native American artifacts, such as beaded belts
and feather headdresses, and contemporary sports memorabilia from
teams with American Indian–derived names—the Cleveland Indians,
Atlanta Braves, and Washington Redskins. The inclusion of these con-
temporary objects immediately recalls the vocal opposition to these
names and to acts such as the Braves’ “tomahawk chop.” Like Edwards,
Quick-to-See Smith uses the past to comment on the present.
LEON GOLUB In his paintings, American artist Leon Golub
(1922–2004) expressed a brutal vision of contemporary life through
a sophisticated reading of the news media’s raw data. His best-
known work deals with violent events of recent decades—the narra-
tives people have learned to extract from news photos of anonymous
characters participating in atrocious street violence, terrorism, and
torture. Paintings in Golub’s Assassins and Mercenariesseries suggest
not specific stories but a condition of being. As the artist said,
Through media we are under constant, invasive bombardment of
images—from all over—and we often have to take evasive action to
avoid discomforting recognitions....The work [ofart] should have
an edge, veering between what is visually and cognitively acceptable
and what might stretch these limits as we encounter or try to visual-
ize the real products of the uses of power.^30
Mercenaries IV (FIG. 36-47), a huge canvas, represents a mys-
terious tableau of five tough freelance military professionals willing
to fight, for a price, for any political cause. The three clustering at the
right side of the canvas react with tense physical gestures to some-
thing one of the two other mercenaries standing at the far left is say-
ing. The dark uniforms and skin tones of the four black fighters flat-
ten their figures and make them stand out against the searing dark
red background. The slightly modulated background seems to push
their forms forward up against the picture plane and becomes an
echoing void in the space between the two groups. Golub painted
the mercenaries so that the viewer’s eye is level with the menacing
figures’ knees. He placed the men so close to the front plane of the998 Chapter 36 EUROPE AND AMERICA AFTER 194536-46Jaune Quick-to-
See Smith,Trade (Gifts for
Trading Land with White
People), 1992. Oil and mixed
media on canvas, 5 14 2 .
Chrysler Museum of Art,
Norfolk.
Quick-to-See Smith’s mixed-
media canvases are full of
references to her Native
American identity. Some
of the elements refer to the
controversy surrounding
sports teams that have
American Indian names.
36-47Leon Golub,Mercenaries
IV,1980. Acrylic on linen, 10
19 2 . Courtesy Ronald Feldman
Fine Arts. Art © Leon Golub/Licensed
by VAGA, New York.
The violence of contemporary life
is the subject of Golub’s huge
paintings. Here, five mercenaries
loom over the viewer, instilling a
feeling of peril. The rough textures
reinforce the raw imagery.
1 ft.1 ft.