Nine Crow Clowns, 2012
Wendy Red Star
Crow, Montana, born 1981
Pigment prints on satin canvas
Clowns have long been a part of Crow ceremonial life, and here Wendt Red Star celebrates their contemporary incarnation. The painting -- a series of nine photographic pigment prints transferred to canvas -- depicts the mischievous figures against a unifying blue background. Only men portrayed clowns in the past; now, both men and women participate. They costume themselves as elders, wear pillows to distort their bodies, and don masks to hide their faces.
