Collision of Heavenly Structures / Norman Akers

Essay/Description

Collision of Heavenly Structures explores the space between Osage concepts of cosmology and elements of Western religion. The abstract Neo-Expressionist painting combines symbolism and a metaphoric diagram of the Osage universe created by Ha pa shu tsi (Redcorn), and references Osage ethnographic records compiled by anthropologist James O. Dorsey.¹ The painting is situated within the nuanced dichotomy of the two-worlds concept, where Indigenous and colonial realities collide.

Artist Norman Akers (Osage, Pawnee) spent more than a year on this painting, which began as a landscape that he eventually decided to paint over. Akers’s immersive works utilize a vocabulary of symbols and coding that has evolved throughout his career as he articulates his story on canvas. The figures emerge from four cubic layers of reality, a reference to the origin story of Tsizho Washdake (roughly translating to Gentle Sky People), a clan of the Osage Nation. The most prominent stacked and overlapping figures appear as a red oak tree, an elk, a human being, and the four worlds that collide between the earth and sky.

—Jordan Poorman Cocker, Henry Luce Foundation Curatorial Scholar for Indigenous Painting Collection Research, 2021

This text was developed from an interview with Norman Akers by Jordan Poorman Cocker, January 13, 2021

_____________________________
¹ Manuscript 4800 James O. Dorsey papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.

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Art Item Information

©Gilcrease Museum

Title(s):

Collision of Heavenly Structures

Creator(s):

Norman Akers (Artist)

Culture:

Native American; Osage, Pawnee

Date:

circa 1990s

Materials/Techniques:

oil on canvas

Classification:

Paintings

Object Type:

Oil Painting

Credit Line:

Gift of the Artist

Accession No:

01.2486

Previous Number(s):

TL1995.31.27; 0127.2486; 33215

Department:

Art

Not On View

Dimensions

Overall (Framed):

Height: 85 3/4in. (217.8cm)
Width: 73 7/8in. (187.6cm)
Depth: 2 5/8in. (6.7cm)

Image (Canvas):

Height: 84in. (213.4cm)
Width: 72in. (182.9cm)
Depth: 2in. (5.1cm)

Framed:

Height: 85 3/4in. (217.8cm)
Width: 73 7/8in. (187.6cm)
Depth: 2 5/8in. (6.7cm)

About the Creator(s)

From Gilcrease Museum:

Creator:

Norman Akers

Biography:

Norman Akers (b. 1958) is an Osage and Pawnee painter and printmaker from Oklahoma. He holds a BFA in painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, an MFA from the University of Illinois, and a certificate in museum studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Gilcrease Museum has one of the most pivotal works of the artist’s career, Collision of Heavenly Structures, ca. 1990s (01.2486).Studying art in the American Southwest, Akers and his contemporaries looked to the land for inspiration, and Akers’s art practice evolved from its beginnings in landscape painting. At the University of Illinois, Akers began to explore subjects such as time, personhood, and cultural continuity, particularly drawing on the intersections of placemaking and landscape as well as the intergenerational landscapes of his Osage identity. In this way, Akers expanded his notions of landscape with concepts derived from his lived experiences—tribal, political, and historical space with distinct interconnections to place. During this aesthetic shift, Akers honed a new painting style exploring elements of Abstract Expressionism and Osage visual arts. In addition, his paintings often layer multiple narratives to create a discourse between symbolism and story. Akers successfully combines principles found in oratory or storytelling with mapping and locating narrative. &#34I address the topics of personal and cultural survival. Instead of speaking out words, I pursue a visual dialog. Through color, line, and visual form, I express deeply felt concerns regarding removal, disturbance, and the struggle to reclaim cultural context.&#341 —Norman AkersAkers made a conscious decision to depart from Flatstyle or Oklahoma Style painting so that he could paint in a way that was not restricted by representational stereotypes or other binaries found within Native American art. Akers has had solo exhibitions at the Lawrence Arts Center (Lawrence, Kansas), the Jan Cicero Gallery (Chicago), and the Gardiner Gallery of Art, Oklahoma State University. Akers’s paintings and prints are in the collections of numerous institutions, including the Heard Museum (Phoenix), the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis), the National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.), and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City).—Jordan Poorman Cocker, Henry Luce Foundation Curatorial Scholar for Indigenous Painting Collection Research, 2021_____________________________1 Norman Akers, interview by Jordan Poorman Cocker, January 13, 2021.

Role(s):

Artist

From Getty's Union List of Artist Names:

Names (all):

Akers, Norman

Birth Date:

1958

Nationalities:

Native American

Roles:

Native American painter, born 1958

Gender:

male

Gilcrease's Native American Collection

Thomas Gilcrease sought to tell the story of America, with an emphasis on Native American cultures and the history of the West, through art. The museum founder’s fundamental interest in Native America was due in part to his own Creek Indian ancestry. Evidence of his interest is dramatically illustrated by the vast amount of Native American art and artifacts he gathered. Collectors of Native American art objects often place a premium on them in accordance with their relative age. Gilcrease knew the value of that practice, yet he also knew the importance of collecting contemporary Native American art. He was patron to a number of Native American artists of his time and purchased over 500 paintings by 20th-century Native American artists alone. As a result, the museum not only tells the story of Native America through exhibition of objects thousands of years old, but also through modern paintings and sculptures.

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Cite this Page

Akers, Norman. Collision of Heavenly Structures. 01.2486. circa 1990s. Tulsa: Gilcrease Museum, https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/012486 (04/20/2017).

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