Chaz John
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Events
- Chaz John: REDHORN August 20, 2024
Melting of Columbia
Chaz John, b. 1987 (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska / Mississippi Band Choctaw, European) is a multi-disciplinary Indigenous artist living and working in Santa Fe, NM.
Artist BioChaz John is creating a new body of work for a solo show in Santa Fe, NM. He plans to construct a series of large-scale performative actions beginning with a sculpture of the Venus De Milo dressed as the goddess Columbia, a hollow slip-cast mold made of white chocolate. Inside her is a mold of a human baby made of 14K gold, held by a small cradle board, representing the native infant torn apart for the American spectacle, now whole again in precious metal. A group of local Indigenous drummers will sing a round of four songs as the conductive rod inside the Venus De Milo / Columbia will be ceremoniously turned on. The sculpture will then melt from the inside out, revealing the golden child, reborn and bringing a new light through melting the devouring and sweet fat. Once the round of songs is over, the switch will be turned off. The sculpture will be preserved as an object of documentation and the revealing action of beauty, compassion, and anger.