Summer Salon featuring Rabbett Before Horses Strickland

Evoke Contemporary carries forward the rich tradition of salons as catalysts for artistic dialogue and intellectual exchange, fostering a dynamic space where creativity and conversation converge. Showcasing a diverse group of artists, the gallery presents thought-provoking works that explore themes of identity, history, and transformation, challenging perspectives and inspiring deeper engagement with contemporary art. This summer, Evoke is pleased to introduce Rabbett Before Horses Strickland, an Anishinaabe artist and an enrolled member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, with additional ties to the Red Cliff and Bad River bands of Lake Superior Ojibwe. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, surrounded by artists — his mother, aunts, and uncles were all painters. He lives and works from his home in secluded woodlands on Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. The nickname "Rabbett" emerged around 1963–64 as his sense of Native identity took shape, and he later legally adopted it as his name. He became fascinated with the Ojibwe trickster figure Nanabozhoo in his early 20s, not long after joining Richard Oakes and other American Indians in the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Largely self-taught, Strickland is an autodidact with no formal art training. As a child he visited San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor and copied works by Caravaggio and other masters. His mature style draws heavily on the European Renaissance and Baroque traditions — Botticelli, Michelangelo, Titian, Velázquez, Rubens, and Leonardo — fused with Ojibwe mythology. He has summarized his approach: "My movement came from Botticelli, my color from Rubens, and my form from Michelangelo." Other artists in this year’s Summer Salon include Lynn Boggess, Francis DiFronzo, Irene Hardwicke Olivieri, Nicholas Herrera, Louisa McElwain, Patrick McGrath Muñiz, and Michael Scott.