Southern California's premier modern and contemporary art museum.

Yoshua Okon
Coyoteria, 2003
DVD video installation with objects, edition 1 of 3
Museum purchase with funds provided through prior gift of Lois Outerbridge

In Coyoteria, young Mexican artist Yoshua Okon revisits Joseph Beuys�s legendary 1974 performance �I like America and American Likes Me,� during which Beuys spent a week living in a New York gallery with a coyote�with only a felt blanket and a cane to protect himself�as a meditation on the relationship between nature and culture. In his update of the performance, Okon evokes a post-colonial version of the coyote by employing a human �coyote� from Mexico City�a man known for trickery, greed and exploitation who is hired by average citizens to mediate between themselves and the government. In Coyoteria, Okon interacts with the �coyote� armed only with a blanket and a police nightstick. The coyote, dressed in a flashy suit, taunts Okon, growling and pacing in the space, taking on the mannerisms of his animal counterpart. Not only does Okon�s Coyoteria revisit Beuy�s examination of man�s relationship to nature, he also addresses issues of class, corruption, and the subjugation of man by man.