National Museum of the American Indian – Brian Jungen (b. 1970, Dunne-za First Nations/Swiss-Canadian) uses mass-produced goods to make sculptures that are simultaneously fake and authentic, playful and political, common and extraordinary.

In Strange Comfort, a major exhibition organized by the National Museum of the American Indian, Jungen reassembles plastic chairs—hacked apart but still undeniably chairs—into a whale skeleton. Suitcases take the form of a possum, a crocodile, a shark. Expensive sneakers become Northwest Coast-style masks. Golf bags become totems. Jungen charges ordinary, useful objects with layers of meaning, exploring and transgressing the boundaries of what they had been and what they’ve become, riffing on Indian imagery, pop culture, consumerism, and obsession in the process.

Link to source

More information:

• NMAI: Exhibition Brochure (PDF).
• Fillip: “Fetishism, Curiosity, and the work of Brian Jungen” (Summer 2006).
• Art Daily: “‘Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort’ to Open at the National Museum of the American Indian in October” (Oct 22, 2009).
• YouTube: Brian Jungen at Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (June 04, 2006).
• Washington Post: “Native Ingelligence: Don’t Stereotype Jungen’s works as ‘Indian’ art.  He challenges the totemic folkways of us all” (Oct 20, 2009).  Slideshow.
• NPR: “Brian Jungen: Crafting Everyday Objects Into Art” (Oct 17, 2009).  Listen here, or click below.