Uniting traditional Native American craft with contemporary cultural and commercial references, the work of Jeffrey Gibson (b. 1972, Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee Nation descent) speaks to the complexity of constructing identity within the context of modern globalism. The National Gallery of Art has acquired The Anthropophagic Effect, Garment No. 4 (2019), a work from an acclaimed series of garments.

Emblematic of his signature style, The Anthropophagic Effect, Garment No. 4 combines features of Native American craft traditions into a multilayered statement. Split reeds, beading, and ribbons from Native dance regalia adorn the garment designed for dance performances. Garment No. 4 also draws upon the dramatic nightclub persona created by Leigh Bowery, an inspirational figure in 1990s LGBTQ culture.

Gibson grew up in major urban centers in the United States, Germany, Korea, and England. He received a BFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 and an MA in painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1998. He is a citizen of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and is half Cherokee. He is currently an artist in residence at Bard College and lives and works near Hudson, New York. Gibson’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, among many others. Gibson is a recipient of numerous awards, notably a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2019), a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award (2015), and a Creative Capital Foundation Grant (2005).