Eric-Paul Riege

Eric-Paul Riege
Born1994
Gallup, New Mexico
NationalityAmerican, Diné (Navajo)
EducationUniversity of New Mexico
Known forfiber art, performance art
Websiteericpaulriege.com

Eric-Paul Riege (Diné/Navajo) (b. 1994, Na'nízhoozhí, Gallup, New Mexico) is a fiber artist who creates installations and performance art. Riege believes his work to be an homage to generations of weavers, and considers his work as an immersion in "ceremonies, and rituals, from his past, future, and present selves."[1]

Riege lives and works in Gallup, New Mexico.[2]

Early life

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Riege, who is Diné on his mother's side and Anglo on his father's side, grew up in Gallup, New Mexico. He was influenced and inspired by his maternal great-grandmother, a weaver and activist from Burntwater, Arizona who was affected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs "livestock reduction" program in the 1930s.[3] He learned how to sew from his mother.[4] His father, who is originally from Ohio, is a hotel manager and an Air Force veteran.[5][6]

The Navajo Times states that Riege is Naaneesht'ézhi Táchii'nii (The Charcoal Streak Division of Red Running into the Water People), born for Béésh bichʼahii" (Metal Hat People-German).[3]

Education

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Riege received a BFA in 2017 in studio art and ecology, with a minor in Navajo language and linguistics from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.[7][3]

Exhibitions

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Riege's work has been featured in numerous exhibitions including those at the SITElines 2018 Biennial at SITE Santa Fe, that commissioned a new work from him.[8] He has also exhibited at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, AZ,[1] and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM.[9] His work was featured in the Prospect New Orleans Biennial, Yesterday we said tomorrow[7] and the Toronto Biennial, Canada.[1]

In 2019, Riege had a solo museum show at the ICA Miami, titled Hólǫ́—it xistz (to exist). The show included woven sculpture, wearable art, and durational performance.[10] A catalog was produced in conjunction with the show with texts by Szu-Han Ho.[11] The titles of his works and exhibitions reflect his interest in language and linguistics.[12]

jaatłoh4Ye'iitsoh [3-4] (2020) at the National Gallery of Art in 2023

In 2020, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ commissioned him to produce jaatłoh4Ye'iitsoh no. 1-6 for the show Larger than Memory: Contemporary Art From Indigenous North America.[13] In 2021 the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum presented a temporary installation and performance that Riege created in response to Jeffrey Gibson's monumental sculpture, Because Once You Enter My House It Becomes Our House. Riege's performance was an expression of the Diné/Navajo word Woshdee'! which translates to "come in." Riege states that: "The word is an invitation to a loved one or a stranger" to honor Gibson's title of his sculpture.

In 2021 he had a solo show at the Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, titled (my god, YE'ii [1-2]) (jaatłoh4Ye'iitsoh [1–6]) (a loom between Me+U, dah 'iistł'ǫ́) "earring for the big god".[14][15] In the same year he was featured in a group show, Make-Shift-Future, at Regan Projects, Los Angeles.[16] Also in 2021, Riege presented a durational performance at the Montclair Art Museum as part of the Color Riot!: How Color Changed Navajo Textiles exhibition.[17] Riege's work was featured in the multi-year project, STTLMNT: An Indigenous Digital World Wide Occupation, in Plymouth, UK, conceived by Cannupa Hanska Luger and the UK based collective, The Conscious Sisters. The project "promotes a digital occupation by Indigenous Peoples within the context of the 400 year commemorations of the Mayflower's arrival in North America."[18]

For the 2022 Toronto Biennial of Art, he exhibited the installation, a home for Her, incorporating a collection of weavings and looms in collaboration with the women weavers in his family.[12][19] Riege presented Hólǫ́llUllUHIbI [duet] for the 2022-2023 winter season at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The large-scale sculptures, which are suspended from the ceiling, represent to what the artist calls "totems of memory" and are reminiscent of ornate jewelry and trees swaying in the wind.[20] He has described his associated performances as teaching him about the correlation between weaving and the structures and systems of the human body.[21]

Performance

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Riege describes his durational performances (which can last for several hours) as a way for him to use his body as a fiber "interacting with looms, the regalia and the installation."[22]

Honors and awards

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In 2019 Riege received a fellowship from the Art Matters Foundation.[23] In 2021, Riege received a New Work Project Grant from the Harpo Foundation to produce an installation for Prospect New Orleans.[24]

Collections

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Riege's work is included in the permanent collection of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami,[25] the Denver Art Museum, the Tia Collection in Santa Fe, and the Montclair Art Museum.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Spring 2021 Museum of Contemporary Native Arts Social Engagement Art Residents Announced". Institute of American Indian Art. 8 March 2021. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  2. ^ Lee, Shannon (2020). "Eric-Paul Riege". Artsy. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Keane, Colleen (20 April 2017). "Diné student honors family at exhibit, performance". Navajo Times. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  4. ^ Valasco, Dee (1 September 2017). "Navajo tradition, culture influences artists". Gallup Sun. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  5. ^ Ferguson, Adam (27 December 2020). "Places Hardest Hit by the Corona Virus". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  6. ^ Weideman, Paul (3 August 2018). "Inviting history in: Eric-Paul Riege". Santa Fe New Mexican. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Eric-Paul Riege". Prospect New Orleans. 5 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  8. ^ Roberts, Kathaleen (13 July 2018). "Natural storyteller". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  9. ^ "Performance in the Museum With Artist Eric-Paul Riege". National Hispanic Cultural Center. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege: Hólǫ́—it xistz". Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  11. ^ Ho, Szu-Han (2020). Eric-Paul Riege: Hólo-It Xistz. Miami: Institute of Contemporary Art. ISBN 9780996690669. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  12. ^ a b Duke, Ellie (March 2022). "Eric-Paul Riege: The New Mexico fiber and performance artist sees life as a loom". Art in America: 11–12.
  13. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege". Heard Museum. Archived from the original on 18 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  14. ^ "Bockley Gallery Welcomes Diné Artist Eric-Paul Riege for his First Minnesota Exhibition" (PDF). Bockley Gallery. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  15. ^ Regan, Sheila (11 June 2021). "Eric-Paul Riege: (my god, YE'ii [1-2]) (jaatłoh4Ye'iitsoh [1–6]) (a loom between Me+U, dah 'iistł'ǫ́)". Minnesota Artists (Walker Art Center). Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  16. ^ Hundley, Elliot (2021). "Make-Shift-Future Regen Projects". Artforum. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  17. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege – [][][][]". Montclair Art Museum. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  18. ^ Gardner, Riley (12 March 2021). "Next Phase for Residencies". Santa Fe Reporter. Archived from the original on 31 July 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  19. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege at Small Arms Inspection Building". Toronto Biennial of Art. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  20. ^ "Hammer Projects: Eric-Paul Ridge, Nov 12, 2022–Feb 19 2023". UCLA Hammer Museum. 11 October 2022. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  21. ^ a b Townsend, Eileen (15 February 2023). "'It Is a Playground For Me:' How Artist Eric-Paul Riege Is Surfacing the Indigenous Identity in His Soft Sculptures and Live Performances". ArtNet News. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  22. ^ Rutter, Samuel; Youngquist, Caitlin (23 April 2021). "10 Queer Indigenous Artists on Where Their Inspirations Have Led Them". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  23. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege". Art Matters Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege and Prospect New Orleans". Harpo Foundation. 4 January 2022. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
  25. ^ "Eric-Paul Riege diyogí [diyin+...2], 2018". Institute of Fine Art Miami. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

Further reading

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Biggers, Ashley M. ''Meet the Next Generation of Diné Weavers, New Mexico Magazine, July 2021

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