(Left to Right) "Both Directions at Once (detail)," 2018. Oil on panel, overall dimensions 90 x 102 x 2 in. "Land of Origin," 2015. Oil on panel, overall dimensions 39 x 78 in.
The painter is a conduit, a filter, an intermediary between the world and the work.
James Lavadour has always taken this idea to heart. Born in Pendleton, OR in 1951, Lavadour’s family are descendants of the Walla Walla tribe, part of the modern day Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Lavadour and a group of supporters founded Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts, a not-for-profit print studio/arts organization that provides a creative conduit to Native Americans through artistic development. A selection of his exhibitions include solo shows at Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon; Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis, Indiana; Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, Washington; the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon. Lavadour’s work was featured in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s seminal survey exhibition, State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now and at the 55th Venice Biennale in Personal Structures. His works are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington; and the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, among others.
ARTIST WEBSITE
pdxcontemporaryart.com/james-lavadour