lessLIE, "Cultural ConFUSION," June 25-Aug 10, 2006, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria

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"Four Salmon and Two Frogs"

lessLIE, "Four Salmon and Two Frogs," 2006, acrylic on paper, 11" x 13.25".

lessLIE, Cultural ConFUSION

Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria

June 25-Aug 10, 2006

By Brian Grison

Born in Duncan in 1973, lessLIE has a bachelor’s degree in First Nations Studies from Malaspina University-College. Currently working toward a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Victoria, he is researching his Coast Salish cultural roots. Encouraged by his cousin, well-known artist Joe Wilson, he has been associated as a printmaker with the Thunderbird Park Carving Studio at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. Several other Coast Salish artists, Maynard Johnny, Jr., Luke Marston, Shaun Peterson, Susan Point and Manual Salazar, have influenced him. lessLIE, whose colonized name is Leslie Robert Sam, is an artist with a political mission. His decolonized name, lessLIE, is an ironic critique of the colonial hegemony of the English language that, for his ancestors, represented racism, imperialism and genocide. Like the trickster artist, his art confronts these destructive political forces. The exhibition, consisting of acrylic paintings on paper, canvas and wood, as well as some limited edition prints, continues his exploration of issues of hybridity and marginality through visual puns that confront the “conFUSION” of traditional and contemporary culture.

Represented by: Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria; Douglas Reynolds, Vancouver; Coastal Peoples Fine Art, Vancouver; Inuit Gallery, Vancouver; Legacy Gallery, Seattle, WA; Stonington Gallery, Seattle, WA.