Native Art Department International: Tokens of Appreciation

Untitled by Native Art Department International. Courtesy of the Artists.

Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice Presents:

Native Art Department International
Tokens of Appreciation

Exhibition: October 29 – December 4, 2021
Opening Reception: Friday, November 12, 7:00 PM

Tokens of Appreciation features work made by Native Art Department International during their recent Incite Residency at Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice. Working primarily in silkscreen the duo have produced collective and independent pieces that are informed by their shared interests in place, memory, text, and design. The resulting prints, which are drawn from a range of sources such as photographic botanical studies, advertising, and their own archive of past works, showcase the wide-ranging themes and aesthetics that emerge in their practice in familiar and divergent ways.

About the Artists:

Native Art Department International is a collaborative long-term project created and administered by Maria Hupfield and Jason Lujan. It is a separate endeavor from their individual professional art practices.

NADI was launched in Brooklyn in 2016, now also working out of Toronto since 2019. It focuses on communications platforms and art-world systems of support while at the same time functioning as emancipation from essentialism and identity based artwork. It seeks to circumvent easy categorization by comprising a diverse range such as curated exhibitions, video screenings, panel talks, collective art making, and an online presence, however all activities contain an undercurrent of positive progress through cooperation and non-competition.

Maria Hupfield is a transdisciplinary maker working with Industrial felt at the intersection of performance art, design and sculpture. She received the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Canadian mid-career artist. Hupfield belongs to and is an off-rez Anishnaabek belonging to Wasauksing First Nation, Ontario, Canada, and is a Canadian Research Chair in Transdisciplinary Indigenous Arts with the Indigenous Creation Studio at the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada.

Jason Lujan is originally from Marfa, Texas. As an artist, he creates tools for understanding and interpreting the processes by which different cultures approach each other as a result of travel and communication and later homogenized. Largely integrating visual components of commercial and political design rooted in Asia and North America, the work focuses on the possibilities and limitations of the exchanging of ideas, meanings, and values, and questions the concepts of authorship and authenticity. He is an Assistant Professor in Advertising and Graphic Design at OCAD U in Toronto.

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Accessibility: Our 173 James North location is partially physically accessible. We have a level entrance leading to our shop, information desk, galleries, washroom and traditional print studio. Unfortunately, we do not have automatic doors or an elevator. We are working toward becoming a physically accessible space in the future.

Image Description: a monochromatic print representing an abundance of leaves with the words ‘Native Art Department International’ in all caps at the bottom of the image.

Media Contact: info@centre3.com

Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice
173 James Street North
Hamilton, Ontario
L8R 2K9
905.524.5084

This exhibition is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Incite Foundation.