Gregg Deal (

Pyramid Lake Paiute The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Reservation is a Indian Reservation, United States reservation in northwestern Nevada, approximately northeast of Reno, Nevada, Reno, in Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe, Storey County, Nevada, Storey, and Lyon County ...

) is an artist and activist whose work deals with "Indigenous identity and pop culture, touching on issues of race relations, historical consideration and stereotype"

Biography

Gregg Deal was born in

Park City, Utah Park City is a city in Utah, United States. The vast majority is in Summit County, and it extends into Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is southeast of downtown Salt Lake City and from Salt Lake Cit ...

, to a white father and Native American mother. Deal is an enrolled as a member of the

Tribe. Deal met his wife, Megan Prymak in Provo, Utah in 1998. The following year, they moved to Montclair, Virginia and married. Deal enrolled as a student at George Mason University in 1999, studying art with a concentration in painting. He and his family lived in the Washington, D.C., area for 17 years before moving to their current place of residence, Colorado Springs, CO. He resides there with his wife and five children.

Career and artwork

Deal lived and worked as a graphic designer then self-employed artist in the Washington, D.C., area for 16 years. After moving to Denver, CO, the

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between ...

hosted Deal as a Native Arts Artist-in-Residence. Currently, Deal is an Artist-in-Residence at UC Berkeley for the 2017–2018 school year.

Solo exhibitions

* ''Existence as Protest,'' 2017 (Redline Gallery, Milwaukee, WI) * ''Supreme Law of the Land,'' 2017 (Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO) * ''There is No Plan B,'' 2016 (The Fridge, Washington, D.C.) * ''White Indian,'' 2016 (Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO) * ''This Is Indian Land,'' 2015 (Art Mart, Fredericksburg, VA) * ''Pan-Indian Romantic Comedy,'' 2015 (Wooly Mammoth, Washington, D.C.) * ''REDSKIN,'' 2014 (Art All Night: Nuit Blanche, Washington, D.C.) * ''Romantic Nationalism,'' 2014 (The Dunes, Washington, D.C.) * ''Art Crimes,'' 2013 (The Dunes, Washington, D.C.) * ''From The Street To The Studio: The Work of Gregg Deal,'' 2012 (Capital One, McLean, VA) * ''Faces in The Crowd,'' 2012 (Foundation Gallery & Liveroom, Kensington, MD) * ''Popmatic,'' 2010 (Sukio, Washington, D.C.) * ''People,'' 2004 (Common Ground, Washington, D.C.)

Activism

Deal’s activism exists in his art, as well as his participation in political movements. He has been heavily involved with the #changethename movement, which addresses the

Native American mascot controversy Since the 1960s, the issue of Native American and First Nations names and images being used by sports teams as mascots has been the subject of increasing public controversy in the United States and Canada. This has been a period of rising ...

and has appeared on an episode of Totally Biased with Kamau Bell as well as The Daily Show with John Stewart. He created a #changethename video on Vimeo to invite Indigenous people to weigh in on the mascot issue in response to what he perceived as mainstream media’s failure to include Indigenous voices within the discussion.

Inspiration / Influences-

Gregg Deal cites James Luna, a Payómkawichum(Luiseño) as one of his main influences. After winning a mentorship with the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

, Deal accompanied

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

to the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, where he assisted

for his performance piece
Emendatio
for two weeks. Afterwards, Deal developed the concept of ''The Last American Indian on Earth''. Deal draws inspiration from various street artists; he cites Washington local artists 181HKS, Ultra, Con and Maz Paz in an interview with

Aljazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a State media, state-owned Arabic-language International radio broadcasters, international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and o ...

, as well as national artists GIANT, REVOK, TWIST and

Shepard Fairey Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campai ...

. Deal also mentions several Indigenous artists that inspire him: Jaque Fraqua, Ernesto Yerena, Nani Chacon, Cheyenne Randall and Jared Yazzie.

References