Sonny Assu
The City on the Edge of Forever
2020Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Totems, Tanoo, 1912)
About
Sonny Assu (Ligwilda’xw of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nations) has been recognized for his mashups of Indigenous iconography and popular culture. He addresses the ways in which traditions of the past have come to inform contemporary ideas and identities, particularly as related to the effects of colonization, and the loss of language and cultural resources in Indigenous culture. Through a variety of mediums, including museum interventions, large-scale installations, sculpture, and painting, Assu’s work maintains a profound connection to past traditions. His practice emphasizes the complex conversation relating to the intersections and boundaries of traditional Indigenous art within the larger realm of contemporary art practices.
Selected Works
For more details or for a complete list of available works, please contact the gallery.
Sonny Assu
The Ancestral Away-team Has Arrived to Make the Necessary Repairs
2020Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (The Lone Watcher, Campbell River, 1909)
Sonny Assu
Pay No Attention to that [Band Council] Behind the Curtain!
2020Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Indian House Interior with Totems, 1912-13)
Sonny Assu
Galaga: Power-up!
2020Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (War Canoes, Alert Bay, 1908)
Sonny Assu
The Value of Comic Sans
2016Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting
Sonny Assu
The Away Team Beams Down to What Appears to Be an Uninhabitable Planet
2016Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Vanquished, 1930)
Archival pigment print
Sonny Assu
PRESERVER ONE: Well, looks like we got them all. See, don't you feel GREAT knowing that these people will never experience the effects of colonization?
PRESERVER TWO: O_o
2016, printed in 2019 Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Tanoo, 1913)
Archival pigment print
Sonny Assu
Making a b-line to HaidaBucks, Salmonberry Frap #ftw #starbucksFAIL #lol
2016, printed in 2019Digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Yan, Q.C.I., 1912)
Archival pigment print
Sonny Assu
Torment: Issue #8, 2019
2019Acrylic ink, Marvel comic book pages on Stonehenge paper
Sonny Assu
Torment: Issue #1, 2019
2019Acrylic ink, Spider Man comic book pages on Stonehenge paper
Sonny Assu
The Spectacular Treasury Edition #1, 2019
2019Acrylic ink, Marvel comic book pages on Stonehenge paper
Sonny Assu
"Special Edition", 2019
2019Acrylic ink, Marvel comic book pages on stonehenge paper
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