Gate

James Lavadour lives on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon.  He is part Walla Walla Indian.  In many of his landscapes, the earth itself seems to come alive. Because he is a Native American, it’s easy to assume he is calling upon those traditions of earth and spirits in his paintings.  But he also is fluent in the traditions of contemporary art making.  The cross-fertilization adds strength to his work.  Sometimes he drops a human skeleton into these primal scenes, a gesture aimed at reminding us that humans are ephemeral visitors to this earth, compared with the mountains.