Through an encyclopedic array of painterly techniques, Norman Akers depicts a world of chaos in his 2002 work, Redemption. Whirlwinds race across the sky above a land of rivers that recalls the original homelands of the Osage people in central Missouri. In the turmoil of the upper left corner, birds, humans, and symbols appear and then meld away into the storm. Below, a ghostly elk stands on a strip of dry land. His roaring, whistle-like call is depicted as a line which emanates from his mouth and transforms into an enormous black megaphone that is, itself, a storm. Whether the human figure and another elk trapped within the cyclone on the right ever receive the message remains ambiguous. Akers has stated that the concept of calling is a key metaphor in his work. The artist is particularly interested in the notion of seeking answers from those who have come before—only to find no one on the other end.¹ Here, the call is either lost or so distorted as to be incomprehensible. Silhouettes of two butterflies, black as oil slicks, add to this ominousness air. An artificial heart on the lower right insinuates that any solutions to the tumult will be, at best, synthetic and temporary salves.

       Akers works primarily in the figurative tradition, often using imagery and visual metaphors from traditional Osage narratives—as well as depictions of modern-day objects—to probe contemporary issues of identity and sense of place. His works, he notes, are “a continuation of the Native American storytelling tradition.”² The artist has stated that he has no interest in illustrating Osage mythology, nor does he speak as a representative for his people.³ Instead, his paintings and prints present audiences with a distinctly personal collection of symbols and landscapes which reappear across numerous works. In Osage creation narratives, the Great Elk, a scared entity, calls upon the four directional winds to create the earth. He then throws himself onto the surface of the world so that his scattered hairs become grasses while his body and antlers transform into hills and rivers.⁴ Redemption strongly insinuates these details, but also situates them within a milieu of modern-day symbols, painted in a manner that draws from Western art historical influences. And, though the Great Elk is a benevolent, savior-like being in Osage stories, in the painting, he appears beyond reach, below the water, or a ghost—an unmistakable allusion to cultural loss. Simultaneously, Akers’s work often incorporates Christian imagery and allusions, as here in the form of three nails on the right-hand side of the painting. Above the nails, two hands reach upwards, toward the symbol of the sacred circle, which represents life within many Native traditions. The crisp, carefully painted imagery, together with the yellow background, offer a reprieve from the turbulent expressionism that makes up the greater part of the work. In these symbols, together with the work’s title, the artist offers an expansive view of spirituality as one possible answer to the loss and mayhem of the work—and of the world at large.

¹ Conversation with the artist, January 22, 2022.

² Norman Akers, “Artist Statement,” Accessed May 15, 2022, https://normanakers.com

³ Conversation with the artist, April 29, 2022.

⁴ Francis La Flesche, “The Osage Tribe: Rites of the Chiefs; Sayings of the Ancient Men,” in Thirty-sixth annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1914-1915,(Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1921), 113-115.

Image courtesy Norman Akers.