Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Guardian Spirits on the Land: Ceremony of Sovereignty, 2000
"Western Front Exhibitions is pleased to present the work of Vancouver-based artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Curated by Candice Hopkins and Mark Soo, the exhibition presents a single painting. . .alongside a selection of pulp science fiction novels [sourced last week from the Main Street shop by the exhibition organizers]. The exhibition is held in conjunction with a series of talks by writers that explore Yuxweluptun’s work in relation to the genre of science fiction.
Drawing from Aboriginal Northwest Coast and Coast Salish cultural myths and iconographic traditions as well as the conventions of epic Western painting, Guardian Spirits on the Land: Ceremony of Sovereignty depicts a congregation of spiritual beings encamped upon a hallucinatory and supernatural landscape. These spirits, whose intense colourings glow with extraterrestrial luminescence and whose ovoid forms bear resemblances to mechanical or android-like parts, are portrayed as caught in a state of ambiguous reverie."
