Monty Little, John Hitchcock & Chad Oliver reception

media release:September 18, 2023 to November 11, 2023. Gallery Hours:Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm.

Arts + Literature Laboratory will hold a reception for two current exhibitions on Friday, November 3, from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. The reception will celebrate Destruction of Eden : War of the Ghosts, an exhibition by John Hitchcock and Chad Oliver, and Liminal, an exhibition by Monty Little, will be on display through November 11.

The November 3 reception will include a performance by Good Corners, the ambient country duo featuring John Hitchcock (pedal steel, electric guitar) and Ryan Lansing (synthesizer, drum machine, baritone guitar, tape loops). Good Corners creates sprawling, droning, haunting compositions which channel influences as varied as Ennio Morricone, Brian Eno, Lloyd Maines, and Black Sabbath to evoke the vast open spaces of the Great Plains. Their first album, "Corners Bloody Corners", was released in September 2022.  

Liminal by Monty Little

The works on view forefront historic and contemporary erasures of various Indigenous identities within the United States. Indigenous communities across the nation maintain multiple cultures, languages, ceremonies, and histories, and should not be seen as a singular society. This exhibition consists of two historical sections. The artwork in the first section represents the 374 ratified Indian treaties signed between the 18th century and early 20th century between various Indigenous communities and the United States government. The second section consists of an installation featuring school desks that date to the era of Indigenous boarding schools. The installation is a reminder of attempted assimilation through settler colonial agendas. The exhibition surveys multiple treaties that marginalize the agency of Indigenous communities, the attempted assimilations and cultural removal from boarding schools, and reflects on these major accounts to acknowledge not only the survival but the continued presence of Indigenous peoples, even if their identities have been altered. Survivance is a continuation of Indigenous solidarity across the nation, which empowers and enriches communities.

Monty Little is Diné, originally from Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo (Diné) reservation. He received a BFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico 2015 and his MFA in printmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2023. Little is also an Iraqi war veteran who served in the Marine Corps with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines from 2004 to 2008. Little has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the National Veterans Art Museum, International Print Center New York, Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, Ralph T. Coe Foundation, Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, and Rainmaker Gallery. He and his family reside in Madison.

DESTRUCTION OF EDEN : WAR OF THE GHOSTS: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN JOHN HITCHCOCK AND CHAD OLIVER

SET IN THE METAPHYSICAL BEAUTY AND HISTORICAL REGION OF THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS IN OKLAHOMA, A  STARK CONTRAST TO THE ADJACENT MILITARY BASE (FT. SILL) AND TOWN OF LAWTON WHICH IS MORE TRUCK STOP THAN CITY LITTERED WITH STRIP CLUBS, PAWN SHOPS AND THE GOODYEAR TIRE FACTORY ON THE EDGE.

HITCHCOCK AND OLIVER MET AT CAMERON UNIVERSITY ART SCHOOL, LOCATED IN LAWTON, OK., AN OASIS OF CULTURALLY LIKE MINDED FOLK IN THIS NOT SO COSMOPOLITAN REGION. THEY BECAME FAST FRIENDS WORKING ON ART, MUSIC AND GENERAL YOUTHFUL MAYHEM. OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST 30 YEARS JOHN AND CHAD HAVE CONTINUED THIS RELATIONSHIP WORKING ON VARIOUS PROJECTS AND OFFERING CREATIVE SUPPORT.

DOE : WOG IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK THAT IS COMPRISED OF DRAWINGS, NEON, VIDEO PROJECTION, VINYL WALL AND GLASS INSTALLATIONS ALONG WITH A DIMENSIONAL CENTERPIECE THAT GROUNDS THE SHOW AND ACTS AS A RESPIT TO THE WORK THAT DRAWS FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF GROWING UP IN LAWTON-FT. SILL AND THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS. 

MUCH OF THE LARGE DRAWINGS ALONG WITH THE IDEATION OF THIS SHOW WERE DEVELOPED DURING RESIDENCY IN MEDICINE PARK, JOHNS HOMETOWN IN THE WICHITA MOUNTAINS. DURING THIS TIME THEY TOOK MORNING DRIVES AND HIKES THROUGH THE REGION REFLECTING ON THE PAST, EMBRACING THE PRESENT AND CONTEMPLATING THE FUTURE OF THIS LAND WITH ITS COMPLICATED HISTORIES.

Inspired by the long history of social and political commentary within the discipline of printmaking, John Hitchcock frequently uses the medium to explore relationships of community, land, and culture. Many of the images are interpretations of stories told by his Kiowa/Comanche grandparents and abstract representations of indigenous historical trauma.

Chad Oliver is an artist / designer living and working in NYC. Born in OKC and raised primarily in Lawton, OK., home to Ft. Sill and the nearby Wichita Mountains, a landscape and environment that continues to influence his work to this day.

His mother Mary Frances McCoy Oliver was an artist and teacher who introduced him to art making at a young age and continued to encourage his art making through the years.

In addition to his art practice Chad has worked as a visual display designer in NYC for the last 20 years. He began his career in visual display working in the windows of Macy's Herald Square and currently serves as director of brand experience for DKNY, Donna Karan and Karl Lagerfeld.

Working mostly in watercolors, ink and various other medium on paper his work navigates thoughts of time / space and the human condition. Imagery weaves in between abstract landscapes and a cast of characters populating his universe.

Chad Oliver received his BFA from Cameron University in 1995 and his MFA from the University of Oklahoma in 1997. His work has been shown throughout the United States.