Earl Biss

On the Buffalo Run #2

Apsáalooke artist Earl Biss grew up on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana, part of his tribe’s ancestral homelands. In the 1960s, he attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an important art school founded in 1962 for Indigenous students. Biss was a formidable figure in a pathbreaking generation of contemporary Indigenous artists. In the international art world, he gained fame for his prolific talent and larger-than-life personality. During his studies, he became interested in Abstract Expressionism, an art movement that prioritizes capturing essence and emotion over literal representation. This painting reflects Biss’ application of that painterly approach. On the Buffalo Run #2 depicts an abstract scene of a hunt. Biss communicated the movement and energy of the people and animals through brightly colored splatters of paint. While Biss left the
background empty, he still established a clear horizon line, separating the foreground from the background.