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Overview
Jeffrey Gibson’s multimedia practice synthesizes the cultural and artistic traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with the visual languages of Modernism and themes from contemporary popular and queer culture. His work is a vibrant call for queer and Indigenous empowerment, envisioning a celebration of strength and joy within these communities.Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, Colorado Springs, CO) spent his formative years in the major urban centers of the United States, Germany, Korea, and England. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 and Master of Arts in painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1998. He is a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and is half Cherokee.
Jeffrey Gibson's multimedia practice synthesizes the cultural and artistic traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with the visual languages of Modernism and themes from contemporary popular and queer culture. His work is a vibrant call for queer and Indigenous empowerment, envisioning a celebration of strength and joy within these communities.
In 2024, Gibson's exhibition the space in which to place me was presented at the US Pavilion of the Venice Biennale. Gibson was the first Indigenous artist to represent the country with a solo presentation at the Biennale.
Gibson's work is included in the permanent collections of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Art Museum, Washington; Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among many others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019); Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters and Sculptors Award (2012); and Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2005).
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Featured Project
Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me
2024 Venice Biennale 4.20–11.24.24Learn moreJeffrey Gibson has forged an interdisciplinary practice and hybrid visual language that draws from American, Indigenous, and queer histories, with references to popular subcultures, literature, and global artistic traditions. A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, Gibson grew up in major urban centers in the United States, Germany, and Korea— experiences that inform his practice. In his work, intertribal aesthetics, beadwork, textiles, and found objects from the past two centuries commingle with the visual languages of global modernism. His use of pattern and abstract geometries confronts the chromophobia of contemporary art. His practice reflects the vibrant realities of Indigenous communities in the United States, a form of cultural critique that engages with complex histories rather than erasing them.
With newly produced multimedia sculptures, mixed-media paintings, site-specific murals, a multichannel video installation, and an extensive exterior installation, the space in which to place me transforms the U.S. Pavilion into an embodiment of Gibson’s radically inclusive vision for the future: a space in which Indigenous art and a broad spectrum of cultural expressions and identities are central to the American experience.
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Artworks
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Featured Project
The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am
9.11.25–6.9.26Acclaimed artist Jeffrey Gibson (born 1972) invites reflection on the interconnected relationships between all living beings and the environment for the 2025 Genesis Facade Commission. Drawing from his distinctive style fusing Indigenous worldviews and imagery with abstraction, text, and color, Gibson has created four-large scale figurative animal sculptures for The Met Fifth Avenue’s exterior: a deer, coyote, squirrel, and hawk. For Gibson, these forms establish an important connection between where he lives and works in the Hudson Valley and Central Park, home to The Met. Additionally, Gibson is interested in rethinking our understanding of the non-human world, hoping to encourage newfound awareness and even empathy towards animal life.Learn more -
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Video
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Exhibitions
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Jeffrey Gibson
ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM 09.06 – 10.21.23Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is pleased to present ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM , a solo exhibition of new work by Jeffrey Gibson on view from September 6 through October 21, 2023. ANCESTRAL...Explore -
Jeffrey Gibson
ALL GOOD FIRES 03.13 – 04.21.21Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is pleased to present ALL GOOD FIRES , a solo exhibition of new work by Jeffrey Gibson on view March 13 through April 17, 2021. Gibson’s...Explore
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Related content
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The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 09.11.25Acclaimed artist Jeffrey Gibson (born 1972) invites reflection on the interconnected relationships between all living beings and the environment for the 2025 Genesis Facade Commission....Explore -
Jeffrey Gibson Power Full Because we’re different at MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA 11.03.24Jeffrey Gibson’s POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT is a newly commissioned immersive installation filling MASS MoCA’s signature Building 5 gallery that follows Gibson’s highly celebrated...Explore
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Jeffrey Gibson
Representing the Representing the U.S. and Critiquing It in a Phsychedelic Rainbow 05.01.24Sed molestie orci euismod nisl volutpat dapibus. Vivamus faucibus dui in ultricies iaculis. Nullam non ultricies magna. Ut at blandit lacus. Cras tincidunt dignissim ligula,...Explore -
Jeffrey Gibson
ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM 09.06 – 10.21.23Sikkema Jenkins & Co. is pleased to present ANCESTRAL SUPERBLOOM , a solo exhibition of new work by Jeffrey Gibson on view from September 6...Explore
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Press 1
Publication 05.04.22Content: In bibendum magna id lorem suscipit tempor. Pellentesque tempus libero id turpis tincidunt tincidunt. Cras gravida sodales purus eu fermentum. Proin eu mauris vestibulum,...Explore -
Art Basel Miami Beach
San Francisco 11.02.21 – 04.02.22Content: Donec fringilla nulla et sapien ultricies efficitur. Sed dolor felis, tincidunt vitae consequat quis, dignissim eu turpis. Maecenas faucibus porttitor sem sit amet posuere.Explore
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