Jeffrey Gibson
Born 1972, Colorado Springs, CO
Lives and works in Hudson, NY
Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, 2020/2021
Plywood, posters, steel, and performances
Posters co-designed by Gibson with Dana Claxton, Luzene Hill, and Eric-Paul Riege
44 x 44 x 21 ft
Originally commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park, New York. VIA Art Fund is the commissioning sponsor
Tap below to hear Jeffrey Gibson discuss his answer to "Has a monument changed you?"
Tap below to hear Gibson discuss a new kind of monument
Tap below to hear Gibson discuss the phrase "Respect Indigenous Land"
Click below to listen to Jeff Gibson discuss the phrase "The Future is Present"
Click below to listen to Jeff discuss his relationship with tradition
Jeffrey Gibson draws from his Choctaw-Cherokee heritage and queer identity to create vibrantly patterned painting, sculpture, video, performance, and installation. Aiming to correct nostalgic views of Indigeneity that locate Native people and culture only in the past, Gibson states, “I have continued to think about my practice as encompassing the past and present while considering the future.” Gibson often integrates words into his artwork, with language drawn from pop songs to activist slogans, to offer open-ended declarations of love, community, and liberation.
Standing over 40 feet wide and 20 feet tall at the entrance to deCordova’s Sculpture Park, Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House commands attention. Originally commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY, this installation expands Gibson’s bold aesthetics and collaborative process to a monumental scale. He took inspiration from North American Indigenous history to create this installation advocating for Indigenous space and culture. The tri-layered form references the earthen forms of the ancient Mississippian city of Cahokia, located in contemporary Illinois, which flourished in the seventh through the fourteenth centuries before European contact.
The title, Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, comes from the song “Can You Feel It” by Mr. Fingers (Larry Heard). Gibson notes, “When I danced to this song in the late ’80s and early ’90s there was intentional liberation work and community building happening in nightclubs that served as safe havens for gay people and for people of color. In these kinds of environments I felt normalized. My self-consciousness waned and I always left feeling awaken and empowered. Heard’s lyrics easily articulate larger ideas about relinquishing ownership, intimacy, generosity, exchange, acceptance, and community. For me, this was a utopian vision that seemed entirely achievable.” This installation echoes this broad communal ethos as Gibson invited fellow Indigenous artists--Eric-Paul Riege (Diné), Luzene Hill (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), and Dana Claxton (Hunkpapa Lakota) --to co-create the wheat-pasted posters covering the façade of the installation and stage performances and artworks on and around the pyramidal form.
Gibson earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MA from the Royal College of Art. His work has been featured in exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; the New Museum, New York, NY and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA. He was a 2019 MacArthur Fellowship recipient. Gibson is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.