Namingha Dan

Painter and sculptor Dan Namingha is one of the preeminent Native American contemporary artists practicing today. A reverent spirit for nature and the land stands at the heart of his creations, as he celebrates the life and traditions of his Hopi heritage. The artistic influences on his dynamic minimalist works include Jackson Pollock, Michelangelo and Norman Rockwell. 

Namingha was born in Keams Canyon, Arizona. He is a member of the Hopi-Tewa tribe, an Indigenous nation known for vivid art, especially pottery. He comes from a long line of artists and potters. His mother is Dextra Quotskuyva, one of the most influential potters of the past century. His great-great-grandmother is Nampeyo, who is considered the godmother of Hopi pottery.

Namingha studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, which later awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2009. He also attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago. 

In 1992, he was the subject of the PBS documentary Dan Namingha: Seeking Center in Two Worlds. He has received many prestigious awards, including the Award and Tribute from the Harvard Foundation at the Fogg Art Museum of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1994, the Visionary Award from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe in 1997 and the Abbott Sekaquaptewa Award from the Futures for Children in 2008.

Major collections and museums holding his work include Booth Western Art Museum in Atlanta, the Náprstek Museum in Prague, the Royal Collection in London and the NASA Art Collection in Washington, DC.

Namingha lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he continues to create art that inspires viewers, collectors and critics.

On 1stDibs, explore the vibrant world of Dan Namingha through his sculptures, abstract works, landscape paintings and more.

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.