Native American artist David P. Bradley has long used humor and irony in his work about Native American subjects - the history, the people, and even the Indian art market.

Bradley’s art usually tells a narrative, most often connected to a social justice theme relating to Native Americans, and his sculpture, American Spirit, falls into that category. This piece, which is on display at the Denver Art Museum, speaks to the commercialization and commodification of the American Indian, and their art, which has been going on for decades.

This is not the first time Bradley has a used a real brand name product in his work; he mocked the logo on the Land O Lakes butter packaging, which had a “Native-American” woman on the label, with Land O Bucks, Land O Fakes, Land O Lakes, another sculpture at the Denver Art Museum. (Land O Lakes recently removed the woman from their logo). The difference between American Spirit and Land O Bucks is that Bradley creates his own version of the logo in the latter, while in the former, he recreates the cigarette package almost exactly the same as the real one, albeit much larger.

The place where Bradley adds his own stamp (pun intended!) is the foil on top of the pack; instead of the tax stamp that would be there, he put an image of the Lakota Sioux chief Spotted Elk (also known as Big Foot), who was killed by the U.S. Army’s 7^th Cavalry during the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. This was the same regiment that was soundly defeated at Little Bighorn in 1876, and it has been speculated that this group of soldiers was taking revenge for that lost battle.

The Natural American Spirit (NAS) brand is owned by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company (SFNTC), which, in turn, has been owned by the R.J. Reynolds company since 2002. SFNTC was started in 1982 as an alternative to the big cigarette brands, using such terms as “additive-free” and “natural,” which they would later be taken to court over. One of the founders bought the rights to a Thomas Nast caricature of a Native American chief smoking, and this was used as their logo until 1986-87 when an Art Deco style logo (of a chief smoking a traditional “peace pipe”) replaced it.

Any guesses on where these cigarettes were first marketed? Ding ding ding! Yes-the Native American reservations! There are several reservations in New Mexico, but not enough for a growing tobacco company, so they began directing their marketing towards New-Age/hippie smokers through ads in East West Journal and Rolling Stone. Sales were slow, but grew steadily until American Spirit smokes became trendy; Sean Penn smoked them while giving interviews, Joni Mitchell and Gwyneth Paltrow were fans, and rapper Mac Miller had the NAS Thunderbird logo tattooed on his chest. The brand was even sold at Whole Foods Market when they were still just a small chain, as well as local natural food stores because they were “organic”.

Unfortunately, tobacco sales were, and still are, very successful on Native American reservations; American Indians/Alaska Natives have the highest frequency of cigarette smoking compared to all other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. (There is also use of traditional tobacco for ceremonial, religious, or medicinal purposes). Although Bradley has occasionally shown smoking or a traditional pipe in his work, he likely sees the detrimental effect cigarettes have had on the health of Native Americans in New Mexico, where he lives and works. That being said, American Spirit is as much a commentary on the use of Native American motifs to sell products as it is on the cigarettes themselves.