Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love

About

Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love presents a survey of 20 artworks by Jeffrey Gibson (American, b. 1972), one of today’s foremost contemporary artists, curated exclusively from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his family foundation. Gibson, who is of Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee heritage, combines aspects of Indigenous art and culture with modernist traditions, navigating and disrupting the expectations placed upon Native artists working within the contemporary art world. By uniting sculpture, paintings, prints, and video with elk hides, tipi poles, wool blankets, beadwork, and fringe, Gibson celebrates the artistry of Indigenous cultures. He adorns and converts utilitarian items (including punching bags, flags, banners, and illuminated signs) to art objects that vibrate with spiritual power, carrying his belief that objects, and people alike, have the potential for radical transformation.

The exhibition’s centerpiece is an expansive and immersive work titled To Name An Other (2019) comprised of 51 screen printed elk hide drums and 50 wearable garments. Originally commissioned as a performance by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, To Name An Other marks a turning point in the artist’s career whereby Gibson has increasingly sought out collective-based projects and performances to activate the communities within which he works. Collaboration is at the heart of his recent social practice. Working and learning together may aid in decolonizing minds and institutions, revealing a future we wish to inhabit. In 2024, Gibson was selected as the first Indigenous artist to represent the US Pavilion with a solo presentation at the Venice Biennale, further demonstrating how his vibrant and powerful voice continues to broaden the view of American art history, contemporary times, and our future.

Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love – From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation was curated by Ryan Hardesty, Executive Director and Curator of Exhibitions and Collections, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Washington State University, for its originating institution in 2023. Its presentation for the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art was organized by Danielle Knapp, McCosh Curator.