j o h n f e o d o r o v

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Bio Born in Los Angeles of mixed Native and European American heritage, John Feodorov spent summers at his grandparent’s homestead in the “White Horse” region of New Mexico.  This time spent between the Navajo reservation and the California suburbs of Whittier continues to have an important influence on his work. Feodorov often utilizes pop culture detritus, as well as sound and video, in order to question ideas of spirituality, identity and place. In addition, his paintings and drawings are ongoing experiments in creating hybrid mythical iconographies out of the persistent contradictions inherent in contemporary consumer society. Feodorov was featured in the first season of the PBS television series, “Art21: Art for the 21st Century” as well as in the companion book published by Harry N. Abrams. He has served as an Arts Commissioner for the City of Seattle and currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Art at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham Washington. In addition, he is also a musician and songwriter. To hear John Feodorov's music projects, please click here.

Statement My work meanders around meaning and identity and the ways we seek to locate them within our lives. Sometimes this search can seem like an act of desperation—a longing for a Something, an Other, that may or may not exist. I think that my paintings and drawings are a reflection of how I try to balance this subconscious longing within my own life. Intentionally ambiguous and dreamlike, they imply a meaningful narrative that often does not exist outside the mind of the viewer. Ultimately, my hope is that they act as catalysts for critical thinking and meditation. The installations, assemblages and video works on the other hand can be interpreted as failed attempts to resolve the contradictions between a desire for a sense of “authentic” connection with growing global capitalism that promotes and feeds off of social and spiritual alienation. Several years ago, I visited the Anasazi ruins at Chaco Canyon, near my family’s land in New Mexico. This was during the much-hyped Harmonic Convergence when people were gathering at numerous traditional sacred sites around the world. Along the inside perimeter of one of the large kivas, a throng of tie-dyed spiritual seekers formed a circle while sitting in lotus position. At the axis, they had erected a plastic totem pole, an object possessing no significance to the native peoples of the Southwest. For me, their act, while well-intentioned (and one that would be considered insulting by most Native people) seemed more like an act of spiritual desperation than of connection. That their desire for connection culminated in yet another example of ongoing spiritual colonialism and appropriation is exactly why issues of spiritual alienation are so important for artists to address—and not just those of Indigenous descent. It is the reasons behind this type of sincere yet misguided event that interests me as an artist.