Colorful crossroads of pop culture and heritage
<p>Artist Ric Gendron poses in his studio. Gendron's work will be on display at The Art Spirit Gallery, Coeur d'Alene, through June 1.</p>
<p>"Rambling Boy" by oil artist Ric Gendron is one of 30 paintings by the artist that will be on display through June 1 at The Spirit Gallery, 415 Sherman Ave., Coeur d'Alene.</p>
An opening reception for The Art Spirit Gallery's latest show takes place today in Coeur d'Alene from 5-8 p.m. Thirty new paintings by Ric Gendron will be on display at the gallery, 415 Sherman Ave., through June 1. The public is welcome to attend the opening event.
Gendron is an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated tribes who has been a full-time professional artist for more than three decades.
He paints every day, combining the pop-culture iconography of contemporary America with symbols from his Native American heritage.
Essentially a narrative painter, he creates expressionist, strikinglycolorful images that chronicle his experience, memory, history, journeys and identity.
Also a gifted guitarist, Gendron's work is strongly influenced by traditional and contemporary Native music and American blues, country, folk, and rock and roll.
Gendron received his art degree from Spokane Falls Community College in 1983 and studied art at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, and at Eastern Washington University.
He shows annually and has won awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market. He has exhibited at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Ind.; Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind.; and at the Center on Contemporary Art, in Seattle and the Blue Sage Gallery in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Published in 2012, "Ric Gendron: Rattlebone" is a mid-career, full-color book written by Ben Mitchell in conjunction with the traveling show by the same name.
From 2012 to 2015, this exhibit travels to the Missoula Art Museum; Tamastslikt Cultural Institute in Pedelton, Ore.; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, in Santa Fe, N.M.; and Jundt Art Museum, Gonzaga University, in Spokane.
An artist demonstration will take place Saturday at the gallery, from 1-4 p.m.