Ledger Drawings Confirm that Art is Everywhere

Writing for the New York Times, art critic Roberta Smith praises the Ledger Drawings created by Oliver Good Shield (Oliver Newton, b. 1868), currently on show at the Outsider Art Fair 2018. ‘From the dean of dealers in Native American material,’ Smith writes, ‘an unusually impressive array of Ledger Drawings.’

Reporting on the growing interest in works made by self-taught artists, Smith notes that the success of the Outsider Art Fair along with several major museum exhibitions signals greater inclusion in the art historical scene. Important works of art simply cannot be written out of history, she argues. On view at the booth of Donald Ellis Gallery, the drawings of Oliver Good Shield, a Lakota warrior artist from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, are particularly ‘notable for their inventive use of areas of bracing white.’