How Did Fritz Scholder Influence His Art

The Life of Fritz Scholder and His Art Art takes many forms. You can see it in the form of a movie, a painting, a photo, or even hear it in the form of music. The world of art is vast and diverse so it is impossible to see it all. An artist that commonly slides under the radar of many current young Americans is Fritz Scholder, and that is a shame due to his amazing ability to create beautiful pieces of art by painting stereotypes of Native Americans. Scholder accomplished an insane amount of achievements in his life time and has many notable art pieces. Born in Breckenridge Minnesota in 1937, Fritz Scholder is one quarter Luiseno, a California Mission tribe. Do to only being one quarter Luiseno and not growing up Indian he often referred
While Fritz did not refer to himself as Native American, he still was, and he obviously cared about the Native American community. The first major project he completed, “Real Indian” was the first break through in exploring stereotypes, as mentioned before. Native Americans are often represented as drunks or savages and I believe that this project captures both stereotypes. The drunk aspect of the painting can be seen as literal representation by the beer can, but what the flag represents in a little more hidden. As previously mentioned Indians are thought to be savages, even to this day, they’re thought to be unevolved and still living in the past, but the American flags covering the individuals in these paintings prove otherwise. I believe it shows that they have adjusted to the new world and are embracing this new culture and generation of lifestyle. Which brings up another point, this one with the individuals themselves. That’s just it, all of his paintings have an individual, as in singular. In the same interview Fritz explains that he uses individuals because it expresses his emotion of always feeling alone, ” I especially like to work with singular figures because I guess I’ve always felt alone.” (Magri). The simplest things can offer the biggest clues. Feeling alone isn’t the only emotion Scholder portrays in his art, often time there are layers of emotion. Fritz goes on in the interview to explain how he picks what he paints and it may come as a surprise to many but he doesn’t know what he is going to paint till he gets into the studio, “It’s autobiographical. There are certain things happening in my life, whether it’s monster love, dreams, or a new dog. There should be humor. There should be danger and all kinds of things. I don’t think about it. When I’m up in the studio it’s often a surprise to me what happens.”