The National Arts Club presents a conversation with artist Jimmie Durham on Friday, May 22 at noon.
Jimmie Durham has worked as a visual artist, performer, essayist, and poet for more than forty-five years. A political organizer for the American Indian Movement during the 1970s, he was an active participant in the downtown New York City artistic community in the 1980s. In 1987 he moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, then to Europe in 1994, where he has lived ever since. Predominantly a sculptor, Durham often combines found objects and natural materials and incorporates text to expose Western-centric views and prejudices hidden in language, objects, and institutions. Calling himself an “interventionist,” Durham is oftentimes critical in his analysis of society but with a distinctive wit that is simultaneously generous and humorous. In 2017, the artist’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum received raved reviews from “The New York Times” and others.