Outsider Art Fair 2024

Donald Ellis Gallery is pleased to present a selection of drawings by various Indigenous artists from across the North American continent. Highlights include a group of gouache drawings by Chief Henry Speck (U’dzistalis, 1908-1971), a hereditary chief known for his role in the revitalisation of Kwakwaka’wakw art and culture. Predominantly picturing mythological subject matter and dance masks, Chief Henry Speck’s work is characterised by a distinctly modern sensibility of colour, space, and minimalist abstraction that directly speaks to the crucial role he played within his own community. Another group of ink drawings by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, a contemporary artist of Cowichan and Okanagan descent, employs Northwest Coast formal design elements and critically reflects on the Western tradition of landscape painting, environmentalism, and Indigenous histories. The gallery will also exhibit a group of 20th century Diné memory aid drawings, created to memorise the intricate design patterns of sandpainting.