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A Life in Balance: The Art of Conrad House is the first comprehensive retrospective of the work of Navajo-Oneida international artist Conrad House (1956-2001), a significant Native American painter who rose to prominence in the 1980s and remained so until his untimely death. His remarkable versatility as an artist is underlined by the exhibition’s diverse array of paintings, mixed media, drawings (assorted media), collages, ceramics, cast glass, prints, beadwork, and textiles.

House exposed himself to a wide range of experiences and values, from his upbringing as a Navajo and Oneida in New Mexico to his travels in Europe and his education as an artist. He was indebted to a broad range of aesthetic influences, ranging from Picasso, Joseph Cornell, and Mondrian to the traditional beadwork of the Crow and Blackfoot people and pottery design of the Anasazi. His choices of style and subject matter were not limited by convention or by anyone’s expectations, whether Native or non-Native. However, his vibrant, vital use of color will attract viewers of all walks of life.

House served as a guest curator for the National Museum of the American Indian’s All Roads are Good: Native Voices on Life and Culture (1994-1998). His work has appeared internationally as well as throughout the United States, including the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (Santa Fe), National Museum of the American Indian (NYC), Navajo Nation Museum (AZ), and the White House.

A Life in Balance includes 59 works (paintings, ink drawings, ceramics, and collages) and was organized by guest curator Joyce Szabo, associate professor of art history at the University of New Mexico, in collaboration with the Conrad House Estate. Szabo also wrote the essay in the accompanying catalog of the same title.