Spencer Keeton Cunningham
Anytown, USA
“The most amusing work at "N.D.N.: Native Diaspora Now" is Spencer Keeton Cunningham's Chief Ramen Heart, which incorporates acrylic and spray paints, a pack of American Spirits, and, yes, ramen noodles to portray a cartoonish Native American. X-ray style, we see the figure has a hamburger in his brain, cigarettes by his throat, and ramen over his heart. With his spindly (almost monstrous) fingers, he appears to be plucking a black arrow that has pierced his head and the burger. It's gross and amusing. Cunningham and Castaneda are members of the Indigenous Arts Coalition, a Bay Area organization started in 2008 that advocates for Native American artists…" – Jonathan Curiel SF Weekly, August 29 2012
"In his multidisciplinary work Spencer Keeton Cunningham creates installations, paintings, drawings, films, and more often investigating topics that relate to his personal relationship to Native American rights and representation." – Justin Hoover Curator and Gallery Director SOMArts, San Francisco, California
"Spencer Keeton Cunningham’s work is especially provocative. His work is at times frightening,images on the destruction of American Indian culture. It is like the art version of a Sherman Alexie poem, scathing and upsetting, but somehow with hope and a sense of humor. It’s impossible to capture the power of Cunningham’s stuff with one picture. The installations as a whole are what does it." -America Singing
“The scale and color density of artist Spencer Keeton Cunningham‘s work makes it almost impossible to ignore—but it’s the poignant, painful subject matter that makes his work difficult to forget. By pushing around the overly romanticized notion of North American Indian culture as a series of icons--Cunningham is able to speak to the viewer through short, graphic strokes that hit hard. He’s interested in presenting his own take on the demonization of tribal people in American culture.” - Beautiful Decay Magazine
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