Double Opening: Chaz John: REDHORN + When The Earth Was Young: a Group Show

REDHORN + When The Earth Was Young
double opening: Friday, August 16, 6-8 pm
on view: August 16–September 22, 2024

Chaz John: REDHORN
The Main Gallery at smoke the moon will feature the solo exhibition, REDHORN, by multidisciplinary artist Chaz John (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska / Mississippi Band Choctaw). Here, John will present a series of bronze cast sculptures and multimedia wall hanging works throughout the main gallery space. Utilizing utilitarian materials that are primarily of the earth, John will activate the whole gallery space with a collaged language of objects.

Investigating both a historical imaginary and speculative future to recontextualize our current moment, John is adorning the mythic with his own idiosyncratic collection of figures and images. This show emerges from John’s extensive research of the ancient city of Cahokia—the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. Cahokia was megalithic—once the most prominent and influential urban settlement of Missisippian culture. More than 1,000 years before colonial imposition, Missisipian culture advanced complex social forms and structures across much of what is now the Central and Southeastern United States.

When The Earth Was Young
In the Casita Gallery smoke the moon will debut When The Earth Was Young, a group show curated by Marcus Xavier Chormicle and Diego Medina. When The Earth Was Young is a group exhibition of indigenous artists, presenting the work of Nizhonniya Austin, Jordan Craig, Poyomi McDarment, Jenny Irene Miller and Brandon Ortiz.

Reaching forwards and backwards in time, this exhibition calls into focus the significance of Oghá P’o’oge (Santa Fe, NM) as a gathering place: both for art and for people. Through five artists’ commitment to their distinct practices, the intersecting lines of place and time convene to recall the not so distant past, and underscore the still abundant youth of the earth and its inhabitants. Showcased during Santa Fe Indian Market, a time of gathering of Native peoples, the exhibition highlights the intentionality and care of the artist’s practices — all of whom sit at the forefront of contemporary fine art in their respective mediums.

Image: Chaz John, Copy of Mississippian Tattoo Shells, bronze. Courtesy smoke the moon.