Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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Art Exhibit Comes on the Heels on a High Profile Washington, DC Campaign to Gain Executive Clemency for Mr. Peltier

San Francisco, CA - As Native American Indians from across the country finish their month long Washington, D.C. campaign to petition for the release of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian leader who has been in jail for 23 years for a crime he did not commit, a new art exhibit at San Francisco's de Young Museum is bringing new attention to Mr. Peltier.

From November 20, 1999 through March 12, 2000 the de Young is presenting Museum Pieces. Bay Area Artists Consider the de Young, a collection of 18 Bay Area artists, work which reexamines the idea of the museum through an energetic mix of paintings, sculpture, and video pieces. As part of the exhibit, San Francisco artist Rigo 99 has repainted the exterior of the museum's east wing and transformed it into a fictitious gallery, the Tate Wikikuwa museum.

Tate Wikikuwa means "The Wind that Chases the Sun" in Lakota and was the name of Mr. Peltier's great grandfather.

The museum-within-a-museum features some of the expert oil paintings Mr. Peltier has created during the last few years in Leavenworth Federal Prison.

Each painting is signed with Mr. Peltier's prison number, 89637-132. The installation also includes a life-size representation of Mr. Peltier's jail cell.

"It is an incredible thing for a major city's fine arts museum to display art made in a maximum security prison" says Rigo 99, who is best known for his series of street sign murals such as One Tree, Sky, Ground. "Most Native American Indian work only appear in museums once they're dead in the form of baskets and pots. The museum I've created is a living museum, one that I hope has a greater meaning for contemporary viewers. This museum is an attempt to salve the wounds between native peoples and the federal government".

The de Young Museum, San Francisco's oldest public museum, is located in Golden Gate Park near 10th Avenue and Fulton Street. The de Young Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm. and on the first Wednesday of the month until 8:45 pm. Museum admission: $7 adults, $5 seniors 65 and over, $4 youth 12-17, children under 12 admitted free. The museum is free on the first Wednesday of each month. Call the 24-Hour Hotline for more information, phone 415-863-3330.