Jason Baerg
Contemporary Indigenous artist uses many tools to tell stories.
Jason Baerg, "Wâseskwastan ᐋᐧᓭᐢᑲᐧᐢᑕᐣ / The Sky Clears by Wind," 2019
etched acrylic on MDF, 4’ x 7’ (courtesy of Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver)
Cree Métis curator, educator and visual artist Jason Baerg is on a mission.
“I aim to advance abstraction, to advance Indigenous politics and to support greater futurities for Indigenous peoples,” says Baerg, former chair of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective, a Canadian-based group that supports and connects Indigenous artists, curators and other cultural professionals.
Baerg, who’s also served as a leader with the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition, part of Canada’s Independent Media Arts Alliance, a group that works to advance the media arts in Canada, teaches at OCAD University in Toronto.
Raised in Prince Albert, Sask., he’s inspired by the mythology of the Métis people and uses painting, fabrication and digital manipulation in his work. His solo exhibitionᓭᓭᓯᐤ / Sêsêsiw / Yellow Legs is on view at Vancouver’s Fazakas Gallery until March 21.
Jason Baerg, “Ka Wâsekwahk ᑲ ᐋᐧᓭᑲᐧᕁ / Sky Blue,” 2019
acrylic on wood panel, 8’ x 6’ (courtesy of Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver)
The show begins with a series of stacked paintings.
“Stacking for me is about relationships,” says Baerg. “It’s about our connection to the land and the earth and each other.
“That piece that is being held up would not be there without that piece that is supporting it,” he says referring to the panels of Ka Wâsekwahk ᑲ ᐋᐧᓭᑲᐧᕁ / Sky Blue, which share a common palette.
On the other hand, Mihcêtiwân ᒥᐦᒉᑎᐋᐧᐣ / Many kinds (the observers) hangs on the wall as two separate pieces in different colours. But even here, Baerg pushes the connection.
“In our community there is the orator and someone else with a complete opposite gift,” he says. “It’s about harmony and synchronicity between extremities.”
His most recent pieces feature cut-outs and irregular shapes.
Jason Baerg, “Pasitâmacowewak ᐸᓯᑖᒪᒍᐁᐧᐤ / S/he Climbed Over,” 2019
etched acrylic on MDF, approx. 7’ x 4’ (courtesy of Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver)
“I try to create installations that challenge the way we have experienced paintings in the past,” he says.
Pasitâmacowewak ᐸᓯᑖᒪᒍᐁᐧᐤ / S/he Climbed Over is scored with laser-cut zigzags that dig into the fibreboard. Wâseskwastan ᐋᐧᓭᐢᑲᐧᐢᑕᐣ/ The Sky Clears by Wind introduces the star motif.
Baerg says the star symbolizes the place where “everything good” comes from.
“It is the hole in the sky. According to Cree cosmology, grandmother spider shot a spider web through a hole in the sky. That is our genesis story.”
Baerg earned his Bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Concordia University in Montreal and a Master’s from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He also studied new media.
Jason Baerg, "Kisik Acimowina / Sky Story," 2013, video, ed./5, 6:43 min. (courtesy of Fazakas Gallery, Vancouver)
His seven-minute video, Kisik Acimowina / Sky Story, a collaboration with fellow artist Carrie Gates, consists of digitally-produced lines and shapes undulating to the driving rhythms of an audio track. Baerg finds manipulating digital images exciting.
“That’s why I forge ahead in these spaces,” he says.
Unapologetically political, he hopes his work encourages other Métis artists to explore their culture.
“I’m really interested in empowerment, in creating opportunity for Indigenous youth to excel and to help them realize whatever they want to be as young people. We have to stand up, we have to give voice, we have to create pathways and we have to speak our truths.” ■
ᓭᓭᓯᐤ / Sêsêsiw / Yellow Legs is on view at the Fazakas Gallery in Vancouver from Feb. 21 to March 21, 2020.
PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.
Fazakas Gallery
659 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6A 1R2
please enable javascript to view
Tues to Sat 11 am - 5 pm
