Dear Listener reviewed in the New York Times

May 23, 2018

Dear Listener: Works by Nicholas Galanin was reviewed in the May 4 “This Week” section of the New York Times:

“Nicholas Galanin’s work is powered by an explosive combination of unfiltered political provocation and lush materiality. The arresting effect is encapsulated by his title for a 2014 pair of hand-engraved plastic earrings: ‘Accessorize with these timeless beauties! Hand-carved Native rape whistle earrings featuring a traditional Tlingit lovebirds design.’ The earrings are unusual, though, in needing even that much explanation.

Take just two examples of Mr. Galanin’s incandescent method from his midcareer retrospective at Phoenix’s Heard Museum: a taxidermied polar bear that seems to rise out of the floor (‘We Dreamt Deaf,’ 2015); and a mass-produced fake totem pole painted to match a room-filling installation of 19th-century fruit-themed wallpaper (‘Imaginary Indian, Totem’). They deftly skip past the verbal mind to hit you right in the belly. WILL HEINRICH”