Alex Janvier
de Greg A. Hill
A canonical figure in Native American art history, Alex Janvier has maintained a 50-year artistic practice that fuses aboriginal traditions with modernist abstraction. Influenced by Kandinsky and Klee, his murals and works on paper, canvas and linen explore the Dene geo-cultural landscape of his northern Alberta home with a combination of Indigenous iconography and contemporary realities within a personal aesthetic that is universal in reach: his works reference an ancient past, recent Indigenous history, and his own experience of colonization. Janvier's synthesis of pictorialism and abstraction embodies a conceptual and formal aesthetic that has not been widely recognized in the work of first generation Native modernists. His original style, his influence on generations of artists, and his role in shifting the perception of Native art from a craft to fine arts status have made Alex Janvier one of the country's most important artists working today. This major retrospective monograph celebrates a lifetime of creativity and knowledge gained through the artist's love of the land, art and aboriginal culture.
