Bob Haozous - The Purpose of Art : Intelligent Dialogue or Interior Decoration ?

Jeannine Belgodère (1)

1 GRIC - Groupe de Recherche Identités et Cultures

The presentation includes an introduction to the Apache sculptor Bob Haozous, as well as an interview I conducted with the artist in Santa Fe in 2014. In this interview, upon which I will comment when I feel necessary, Mr. Haozous expresses himself on his father's artwork which, in his opinion, conveys a romanticized view of Native Americans. He further provides the cultural context which explains why his father presented this beautiful but uncritical image of Native Americans. Some of the issues Mr. Haozous raises deal with his concept of art as a cultural statement and his view of Indian market as based on romance and decoration. He also goes deeply into what it means to be Indian: it is not a genetic identity but a philosophy. He further elaborates on the idea that if Native Americans are vibrant and alive, they are also very damaged. His zombie sculpted figures are symbolic of Indians eating their own culture and feeding the enemy: ignorance.

Keywords: Bob Haozous; Allan Houser; Indian market; Indian people; Apache holocaust; cultural statement; political statement; internal dialogue; decoration; romance; zombie

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences

Jeannine Belgodère. Bob Haozous - The Purpose of Art : Intelligent Dialogue or Interior Decoration ?. Contemporary Indigenous Realities, Faculty of Philosophy, Niksic, University of Montenegro, Montenegro; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Osijek, Croatia; Department of English, University of Central Oklahoma, U.S.A., Jun 2015, Niksic, Montenegro. ⟨hal-02976566⟩