Jeff Slim is of Diné descent and his heritage is deeply woven throughout his artwork, examining the ancestral, the Traditional, and today.
In his work he utilizes vintage photos juxtaposed against present day photographs of his friends and family of today. Slim prefers to utilize various mediums such as acrylic and spray paint in his paintings creating a striking layering effect blended with subtle pop culture imagery, in addition to examining his own feelings and ideas about his ancestry and family today while staying connected to his Navajo community and residing in Phoenix. Painting allows him the freedom of continuous exploration of ways to communicate and connect with my surroundings, as well as revisiting the past, researching stories, and experiencing the present.
The artist has exhibited at a variety of galleries in Phoenix, San Francisco, Santa Fe and South Dakota, including Blue Rain Gallery, the Onley Gallery, and the Hive, just to name a few. He has also created numerous murals around the valley. Slim’s artwork has been featured in numerous publications both online and in print including The Arts Beacon, Arizona Republic, LocalRevibe, Phoenix Magazine, and Phoenix New Times, which also honored him as a 2015 Big Brain Award Finalist. Slim has been a member of the Black Sheep Art Collective since 2009, an arts group that works to connect young and older Native artists. Slim can often be found creating in his wonderful studio space in the La Melgosa Building located in the heart of the Grand Avenue Arts District.
He recently exhibited at the monOrchid this past May with his latest collection of work titled Bilá Ashdlá' (Five Fingered People). This solo exhibition showcased the continuation of his two series “Pollen Boy” and “Beyond the Reed Series” both series depict the artist’s personal interpretations of his culture. His good friend and musician Ryan Dennison inspired the “Pollen Boy Series” Slim says, “It is so inspiring that he has created his own path and voice incorporating his life growing up on the reservation along with life today”. Slim will also be exhibiting new work from his “Beyond the Reed” that explores the Diné creation story while incorporating and depicting people of today and what he calls “Navajo now”.
Be sure to check out his current exhibition “Prelude to “Bilá Ashdlá' (Five Fingered People): Photography by Jeff Slim at the Appaloosa Library in collaboration with Scottsdale Public Art. According to the Scottsdale Public Art statement “His work is a continued quest to understand his Navajo heritage, while integrating his own perception on contemporary life, with multi-layered color-rich images of human forms and pop culture references.” Debuting a new body of work where he has ventured into a new medium for the artist, Black and White photography. This stunning collection of work highlights the artist’s signature style that he has painted directly onto nude models then photographed and cropped abstractly.
Up next for Slim is an exhibition at the Shallow Gallery in Gallup New Mexico opening this Saturday December 10th, 2016. To learn more about this talented artist visit him at https://www.facebook.com/JSlimArt/. All images are courtesy and copyright of the artist Jeff Slim, Scottsdale Public Art and Nicole Royse.
