DAVID BRADLEY
Black Hills Gold Certificate
Date: 1990-92
Dimensions: 30” x 72”
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Condition: Overall very good
Provenance:
– Elaine Horwitch Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
– Private Collection
– Trotta-Bono Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
David Bradley’s Black Hills Gold Certificate reimagines a U.S. dollar bill as a vivid commentary on Native American history and the exploitation of the Black Hills. “One Dollar” becomes “One Indian,” George Washington is replaced by Sitting Bull, and bags of gold and animal skulls evoke the violent dispossession of Native lands. With its flat, vibrant surfaces and ironic “certificate” form, the work exposes the uneasy intersection of wealth, history, and the commodification of Indigenous identity.