Brian Jungen (b. 1970, Dunne-za First Nations/Swiss-Canadian) uses mass-produced goods to make sculptures that are simultaneously fake and authentic, playful and political, common and extraordinary.

In Strange Comfort, a major exhibition organized by the National Museum of the American Indian, Jungen reassembles plastic chairs—hacked apart but still undeniably chairs—into a whale skeleton. Suitcases take the form of a possum, a crocodile, a shark. Expensive sneakers become Northwest Coast-style masks. Golf bags become totems. Jungen charges ordinary, useful objects with layers of meaning, exploring and transgressing the boundaries of what they had been and what they’ve become, riffing on Indian imagery, pop culture, consumerism, and obsession in the process.

Money Changes Everything by Paul Chaat Smith
Brian Jungen turns objects inside out. By deconstructing them, he changes not only the things themselves, but the ways we think about what they used to be, and what they’ve become.   more...

Brian Jungen: Cut Ups by Candice Hopkins
Brian Jungen hails from Fort St. John, a small city of fewer than 20,000 people located in the northeastern part of British Columbia.   more...

On View
October 16, 2009–August 8, 2010 at the NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC
brian jungen: strange comfort // October 16, 2009–August 8, 2010 // NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC

  Carapace (detail), 2009. Industrial waste bins. 11.63 x 26.25 x 21.9 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Casey Kaplan, NY.
  Photo: Mathieu Génon, courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, NY, and Frac des Pays de la Loire, France. © Brian Jungen.