Gallery Talk by Chicago Artist John Joe

John Joe, a Chicago artist of Navajo (Diné), Zuni, and Irish descent, will discuss his work on Sunday, July 6, 2008, at 1 p.m. at the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, 3001 Central Street, Evanston.

Joe is one of four contemporary Native artists featured in the Mitchell Museum’s new “Transfusion” exhibit, on view through September 4. All are in their mid-30s and are of mixed Native and European or Asian heritage.

“My work is based on investigating indigenous identity,” Joe says. He explores this theme on a personal level and also from the standpoint of popular culture, such as the use of Native American references and images in advertising.

He describes “The Return” (2007), one of his works in the “Transfusion” exhibit, as a “futuristic, funky” painting of a woman in a Northwest Coast Indian raven mask. It’s rendered on canvas in ink, acrylic paint — and a commercial latex house paint in a color the manufacturer calls “Navajo White.”

Joe works in a variety of media. An untitled work from 2008 in the “Transfusion” exhibit consists of a stack of 2” x 4” lumber on which he’s painted abstract patterns in acrylic.

Born in Colorado and raised in New Mexico, Joe is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and Arts in Santa Fe.

He will have some artwork available for sale after his gallery talk.

Admission to the talk is free with an entrance donation to the museum. Suggested donation is $5 for adults; $2.50 for seniors, students, and children. Maximum suggested admission per family is $10. For information, phone (847) 475-1030. On the Net: www.mitchellmuseum.org.