Dramatic Portraits: The Painting Portfolio of Nocona Burgess
Nocona Burgess is an artist and a member of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma. In his artistic practice, Nocona paints powerful, often dramatic portraits of native American people from different nations around North America.
The artist’s paintings are made all the more striking by his use of monochromatic backgrounds, sometimes incorporating geometric elements. There’s a contrast at play here between the traditional, portrait-style treatment of the human figures, and these geometric elements that hearken to Western contemporary art of the mid 20th century and beyond.
Nocona draws from a combination of research and personal experience in constructing the details of each portrait. The resulting works are carefully constructed and command the viewer’s full attention in construction and unpacking a narrative behind each face. The strikingly bright colours and stark compositions of the works help to clear away all obstacles for the viewer, allowing Nocona’s subjects to be seen fully.
