Memories of a Suburban Ind'n | John Feodorov
is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s nearly five-decade career. Spanning a wide range of media—including painting, sculpture, installation, film, and music—Feodorov’s postmodernist works blend sharp satire with deep personal insight. His art often critiques the contradictions and injustices of capitalism, consumerism, environmentalism, and religion while weaving in autobiographical and emotional elements that resonate powerfully.
It's not often that an exhibition pulls you in so deeply and emotionally while delivering it humorously in serious scale, but that is exactly what happens when you enter John Feoderov's "Memories of a Suburban Ind'n" at Western Washington University's Western Gallery. Filling the entire 4 room gallery, including multiple video installations, the exhibit is so dense in the sheer amount of content one visit definitely wasn't enough. Over the weekend we retuned for a second time and bringing another round of company to experience it.
John Feoderov, an Associate Professor of art at Fairhaven College, is vulnerable in sharing his upbringing as a Diné kid navigating a religious suburban experience growing up between a Los Angeles suburb and the Navajo Reservation straddling 2 worlds. He pulls apart the personal and collective torments associated with the church. He probes deep investigating past traumas and the impacts of environmental crises brought on capitalistic greed.
The artist raises questions about forced assimilation and the resultant health issues and outcomes including diabetes running rampant with an installation informing of his own diagnosis. It's a harrowing view into the daily life of tracking glucose levels.
The "Totem Teddies" and "Office Shaman" installation bring almost childlike chuckles with their seeming absurdity and dark humor. When you take a closer look at the corporations he's turning our attention to for their resource extraction it's perfectly smart commentary. The shaman video installation is definitely worth a few rounds of laughs for those employees looking to just be "ok" with dehumanizing corporate jobs. In concert with his "Office Deity" painting they spell out the downward spiral of where we are with the woes of Capitalism run amok.
In an installation titled "Desecrations" four beautifully and tightly woven Navajo rugs, created in collaboration with Dine weaver Tyra Preston, are the canvas for Feoderov's focus on resource extraction from Tribal lands and the associated health and environmental issues as a result. Burning coal, uranium mining and fracking are aptly interrogated in this fraught series of paintings. The coal painting of this series, possibly the first in this particular installation, was previously on view at the Museum of Northwest Art in 2017 for the "In Red Ink" group exhibit.
And as if that wasn't hefty content for one artist in a single exhibition, John Feoderov is also a musician with the group Animal Saints, and previously the Almost Faithfuls. Some of the music from his current band is worked into some intense video installations ripe with commentary in their overlapping themes addressing some of the historic "American" racist tropes along with visuals correlating to assimilation and religious dogma. Definitely go back at least 2 more times to parse those more...
On view through December 7, 2024, Monday-Saturday 11-5 pm
https://westerngallery.wwu.edu/memories-suburban-indn-john-feodorov