Jason Lujan’s cross-disciplinary mode of working is evident in the ten prints on view from Famous (Indian) Battles of the Muhheakantuck created for this exhibition. 19th-century hand tinted postcards and feudal Japanese scenic maps are the inspiration for this series dealing with the colonization of the Hudson River Valley. Lujan’s scenic photographs of the Hudson from the New York City area as well as more northern sections are the base image for each print. Banners with battle dates in Japanese mark the sites of conflict between explorers, colonists and the Indians. The “cloud” design elements taken from Japanese prints further flatten the view. In a sense, translating the conflict into another language and cultural idiom poses questions about colonization versus cultural crossover, borrowing and appropriation. The postcard format provides a sense of authority which is broken down by the obtuse legibility. In total, the project frames the region in terms of struggle and conflict, in a way that is rarely officially recorded or marked.

Jason Lujan is of Chiricahua Apache background and has lived in New York since 2001. His solo installation Blood is the New Black at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY; and group exhibitions include Native Voices, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY; Longwood Gallery, Bronx, NY. His performance Fancy Dance Good Luck Lion was presented at the Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ, and the National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY. He has participated in the Artist in the Marketplace Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY, and in residencies at The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT; and Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, NY. Lujan earned his MFA from the University of Colorado, Bolder, CO, and his BFA from the University of Texas, Arlington, TX.

More information can be found at www.jasonlujan.com.