Artist Brad Kahlhamer prepares for his first solo exhibition with Venus Over Manhattan at 39 Great Jones Street, featuring energetic paintings on bedsheets that blend Plains Indian winter counts, pop-cultural graphics, and Manhattan's post-punk scene. The article follows Kahlhamer through the week leading up to the show, including his visit to TEFAF New York at the Park Avenue Armory, where his work "American Horse" was displayed in the gallery's booth, and his reflections on the installation process and the portable bedsheet medium inspired by Indigenous traditions.
This piece matters because it offers an intimate, first-person glimpse into the creative process and exhibition preparation of a contemporary Native American artist navigating the high-stakes art fair and gallery circuit. Kahlhamer's presence at both TEFAF and Venus Over Manhattan underscores the growing visibility of Indigenous perspectives in the mainstream art world, while his use of bedsheets as a portable canvas connects historical Indigenous documentation practices with contemporary art-making.