Alan Van Every

Totemic artworks may have their origins in monumental sculptures that portray significant animals and plants as spiritual beings for the artist or shared group; however, over the past century, artists have embraced organic and geometric abstraction to manifest their ideas. The Burchfield Penney Art Center’s new acquisition, Totem Pole (circa 1993) by Alan Van Every, clearly derived inspiration from traditional indigenous art. The surfaces of this tall, carved wooden sculpture are covered with brightly colored patterns and imbedded with words or latent messages. His improvisational painting follows the biomorphic forms that reference Native American animal and figurative totem poles, as well as other cultures’ obelisks and towering vertical sculptures.