Artist looks at the commercialization of Native American cultures with humor
A Museum Minute
By Olivia Weitz
Wyoming Public Media
January 9, 2025
A 1-minute audio snapshot highlighting a museum object from the collection of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Minnesota Chippewa artist David Bradley pokes fun at Hollywood cliches. Whitney Western Art Museum Assistant Curator Ashlea Espinal described his acrylic painting Tonto’s Dream.
“We see images of buffalo gals, ghost riders in the sky and the Lone Ranger, all who have been popularized in song, radio and film,” she said.
Tonto, the main character in the painting, starred alongside the Lone Ranger in a TV series about the Old West. In Bradley’s piece, Tonto is sleeping by a campfire. You can also see shards of pottery, Santa Fe traffic and casinos.
“We see Bradley combining all of these different aspects to really highlight the commercialization of the American West and also Native cultures,” Espinal said.
Espinal adds, “By incorporating these cliches and stereotypical imagery in his paintings, Bradley invites us to examine humorous and sometimes very chaotic narratives and to question the painting’s deeper meanings.”
