As Henri Rousseau, an important French painter for reasons unorthodox, has inspired Minnesota Chippewa painter David Bradley to create three versions of Rousseau’s “The Sleeping Gyspy” from1897. In turn, Bradley has inspired my work over the years with his bright colors and Indigenous social commentary. I created this painting as an homage to both Rousseau and Bradley. I took the layout of Rousseau and the colors from Bradley, but blended both of their landscapes together. I also added a sign like the “Hollywood” sign like Bradley put in all three of his pieces, but I wrote out the name “Tatooine”, which is the desert planet of Star Wars. I changed the sleeping gypsy with a sleeping nomadic Tusken Raider indigenous to the planet Tatooine. I blended Rousseau’s, Bradley’s and mine together to create “The Sleeping Tusken”.
