Orange Chip centers works that Tschumper has described as “having a personal POW! effect” on him, influencing his thinking and collecting trajectory. The artists in Orange Chip are Julie Buffalohead (Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma), Esteban Cabeza de Baca, Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe), Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe), Justin Favela, Yatika Starr Fields (Cherokee, Creek, and Osage), Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee), Trenton Doyle Hancock, Brad Kahlhamer, Chelsea Kaiah (White River Ute and White Mountain Apache/Irish), Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq and Athabascan), Cannupa Hanska Luger (Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold (Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara) and Lakota), Kent Monkman (Cree), Jenny Morgan, Virgil Ortiz (Cochiti Pueblo), Wendy Red Star (Apsáalooke), Eric-Paul Riege (Diné), Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Rose B. Simpson (Santa Clara Pueblo), William Villalongo, Marie Watt (Seneca Nation), Nico Williams (Aamjiwnaang First Nation), and Steven J. Yazzie (Diné).
The exhibition traces a powerful throughline in Tschumper’s collection—that of storytelling as a tactic for cultural, political, and institutional critique. Subverting dominant Western narratives and staging sites of resistance, the artists in the exhibition create works from a place of self-determination, sovereignty, and autonomy, engaging with these ideas as both personal practices and collective, community-based ways of knowing and being. They tell their own stories—some with stark seriousness and others with biting humor. There are artists who build new worlds and imagine alternative futures, while others expose uncomfortable truths and shed light on erased histories.
Orange Chip is curated by Sarah Watson, Director & Curator of the CU Denver Art Galleries, with curatorial support from Andrew Palamara, Gallery Coordinator. The exhibition continues through December 11at Emmanuel Gallery.
