Chris Pappan

Chris Pappan (born 1971) is a Native American artist, enrolled in the Osage Nation and of Kaw and Cheyenne River Lakota descent.[1]

Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Pappan studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, and is a self-described "Lowbrow Native" artist,[2] with his work based on traditional ledger art.[3] In 2011 he participated in the Heartland Reverberations exhibition at the Spencer Museum of Art along with Norman Akers, Bunky Echo-Hawk, Ryan Red Corn and Dianne Yeahquo Reyner;[2] the same year, he was awarded the Discovery Fellowship by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts.[3]

In July 2014 Pappan was the featured cover artist for Native Peoples magazine; he was also awarded a Landmarks Fellowship to travel to Australia and participate in a cultural exchange with Indigenous Australians.[4] In 2015 he presented Account Past Due: Ledger Art & Beyond at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.[5] In 2016-19 the Field Museum of Natural History organized a show of his drawings and paintings called Drawing on Tradition: Kanza Artist Chris Pappan.[6] His work is part of the permanent collections of the Spencer Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Native Art.[7]