Dwayne Wilcox, Soup de Jour

Dwayne Wilcox is a contemporary Lakota artist using humor to comment on culture and cultural challenges. He grew up on the east side of the Pine Ridge Reservation. His family comes from the Eagle Nest District.

Dwayne attended the Crazy Horse School in Wanblee. In his own words “I never had any real art training other than being around a lot of talented traditional artists, most of all I always liked the humor of my friends and my family. I like to reflect on some of the stories told to me by friends and the political environment that may need to be adjusted to the native point of view, this is why I draw these images and show the viewers not from my culture, there is another point of view”.

When asked why he uses the lined paper and why use humor Dwayne responds with “Beads, cloth, paper… all of which had been introduced around the same time, and it was at a period when natives of the plains were losing their homeland to new conquerors and their refusal to give up the right to be free caused many to be imprisoned. Many of the earliest ledgers were done during incarceration. Like bead work, it has become a medium for a traditional style. In the Lakota tradition there is the Sacred Clown and in drawing can reflect that humor, I see that as part of the old values of traditional life ways.”
Dwayne currently lives in Rapid City, SD.

http://jwillis.net/artist-statement-dwayne-wilcox/