Gerald Clarke: Falling Rock

This survey brings together three decades of work by contemporary Native American artist Gerald Clarke. Utilizing wit and humor to expose historical and present-day prejudice and injustice, Clarke brings a decolonial perspective to urgent cultural and political issues facing our world.

Clarke is an artist, university professor, cowboy, and Cahuilla tribal leader. Combining various media in his sculptures, paintings, works on paper, videos, performances, and installations, Clarke derives artistic inspiration from his cultural heritage, expressing traditional ideas in contemporary forms that are both poetic and urgent. Clarke works against stereotypes and archetypes of Native American art and culture, repurposing found objects and creating clever juxtapositions to make profound political statements. Clarke's artistic output resonates with histories of assemblage, pop, and conceptual art produced by both Native American and non-native artists.

The first catalogue on this inventive contemporary artist, the collection introduces Clarke's work at a moment when it is profoundly necessary. Masterfully designed with color illustrations and illuminating texts, Gerald Clarke: Falling Rock is a politically-engaged and often humorous look at the artist's storied career.

David Evans Frantz is associate curator at the Palm Springs Art Museum, where Christine Giles is curator of Western and Native American art. Gerald Clarke is an artist and an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and is represented in several prominent museum collections including the Autry Museum of the American West, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Heard Museum, and Palm Springs Art Museum. Clarke is assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, Riverside.