American Indian Leader Russell Means TouchArt June/July Artist of the Month

TOUCHART SALON JUNE/JULY 2007 ARTIST OF THE MONTH

RUSSELL MEANS


American Indian Leader Russell Means Talks about Oppressionist Art at Shaman’s Gallery Exhibit in Hot Springs, South Dakota, August 2006 – Photo by Sage Paisner

The L.A. Times described him as the most famous American Indian since Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Russell Means is a natural leader. His fearless dedication and indestructible sense of pride are qualities admired by nations worldwide. His vision is for indigenous people to be free.
Free to be human, free to travel, free to stop, free to trade where they choose, free to choose their own teachers ~ free to follow the religion of their fathers, free to talk, think and act for themselves and then they will obey every law or submit to the penalty. The most difficult lesson of all is to respect your relatives' visions.

From www.russellmeans.com

American Indian Leader, Activist, Actor and Artist Russell Means is TouchArt.net’s June/July Artist of the month.
From his first trip to retake Alcaltraz with his father in the late sixties, to his painting Plymouth Rock RED and leadership in the takeover of Mount Rushmore and Wounded Knee, Russell Means has combined art and political savvy to get the message of the Lahkota to the world. As filmmaker James Starkey (“Riding with Ghosts”) says, “Russell Means was the first performance artist. Pouring red paint on Plymouth Rock was a brilliant combo of art and protest.”
Russell Means the artist has created a series of unforgiving portraits of American heroes from the American Indian perspective. Drawn in sparse strokes on bark paper that resembles parchment, Custer is “Disobeyed Orders”, and Columbus, “One-Half World Off-Course”. Russell Means has written about each of the Indian Killers he portrayed listing their crimes against tribal people and the earth. Indian Killers should be a book for public schools nationwide so American children can hear a fair and balanced view of the heroes portrayed in the sanctioned history books.




“Disobeyed Orders” from “Indian Killers” by Russell Means







“One-half World Off Course” from “Indian Killers” series by Russell Means


Russell Means is an Oppressionist Artist. In 2006, he, Francis Yellow and James Starkey announced the first Oppressionist Artist Movement exhibition at the Shaman’s Gallery in Hot Springs, South Dakota. Russell Means and James Starkey recruited Charleen Touchette, Sage Paisner and Raoul Paisner, and in South Dakota, painter Denise Giago.
The Shaman’s Gallery censored some of the art by James Starkey, Sage Paisner and Charleen Touchette. At the opening, James Starkey gave his censored piece, a painting of Sitting Bull and the Treaty of 1848 on an American flag to the gallery director eliciting applause from the overflowing crowd of artists, gallery goers, Italian tourists and American Indians from nearby Pine Ridge and more distant reservations. Filmmaker James Starkey screened his poignant film “Riding with Ghosts” to two full houses.

Opening at Oppressionist Art Exhibition August 2006 Photo by Sage Paisner


James Starkey at Oppressionist Art Exhibition August 2006 Photo by Sage Paisner

RUSSELL MEANS BRINGS OPPRESSIONIST ARTISTS TO L.E.L.A.
International Arts Center in Los Angeles September 2006

When Hideo Sakata and the L.E.L.A. International Arts Festival artists invited Russell Means to be among the first American Indian artists to exhibit with the twelve year old artists organization that has hosted arts festivals in Korea, France Armenia, and other countries worldwide, Russell accepted with the condition that other Oppressionist Artists James Starkey and Charleen Touchette be included.


Denton Lafferty, Charleen Touchette with Russell Means and Charleen Touchette
Russell Means and Charleen Touchette
Both Photos at L.E.L.A.International Arts Festival in Los Angeles, September
2006. Photos by Liesette Paisner Mixed Blood Radio