American Indian Culture and Research Journal

Hopi Brian Honyouti's "clown" sculptures stem from his personal and political views and comment on commercialism, big business, greed, over indulgence, and irresponsible and sexual behavior. This essay explores the meaning of these carvings to Honyouti, to Hopiit, and to the buying public, as well as their relationship to tithu the carved representations of Katsinam. Working in the contact zone and in the realm of transculturation, Honyouti's carvings emphasize his perceptions of the confluence of the Hopi world and that of dominant America in an attempt to discern commonalities in how all people express certain human traits.