Rance Hood, Au Tup Ta, "Yellow Hair" (1941-2024) was a proud member of the Comanche Nation and a world-renowned award winning, self-taught Comanche Indian Artist, Designer, Sculptor, Medicine Man, and Native American Icon. Rance was one of the few Native American 

artists left who painted in the manner which echoes the traditional Indian 

culture and spirituality of the past that has been drastically changed by 

the modern and white worlds.

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Rance, an Oklahoma native, was raised by his maternal full-blooded 

Comanche grandparents, where he learned the Comanche language, 

customs, and values. Hood attended Cache High School, worked as a 

mill worker, oil field worker, print shop designer, and rodeo circuit 

bull-rider before becoming an iconic self-taught Comanche artist. As 

an artist, he worked with and mastered acrylic, watercolor, tempera, 

mixed-media, stone, bronze, and screen prints. He combined color, 

expression, composition, and the freedom of flow, life, seasons, and 

spirit, creating prolific and authentic Native American paintings. Hood’s 

paintings are presented in meaningful, mystical, and ancestral landscapes. 

Although, Hood introduced some abstract motifs into his backgrounds, 

he remained true to the traditional style of art practiced by his 

Comanche ancestors.

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Hood’s paintings are presented in a mystical landscape that is not of this 

world but a world distinguished by heroic deeds and ancestral spirits. 

His paintings feature warriors on horseback galloping so energetically

that their hooves never touch the ground. His art flows with a unique

expression of energy, magic, life, and authentic freedom.

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Strong composition, use of line, and the explosive use of color are all characteristic of Native American Indian art. Hood’s themes are mystical and spiritual, developing his work through the customs and religious practices which were passed down to him. The paintings by Rance Hood are viewed as an extension of the theatrical adaptation of original Plains painting. Life and energy has been added and color intensified, but the unforgettable recollection of an idealized Indian world remains.

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Hood said, “Why do I paint what I paint? I paint for the old people and try to keep the old ways alive. I just want to be known as a good artist who remembers the old ways as they were long ago. I wish I lived in that period of time. I am Comanche.” (Rance Hood, Mystic Painter, 2006). Through Hood’s exceptional ancestral connection, credible intuition, and genius expression, he will be forever considered one of the most successful Plains Indian artists throughout the world.