Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Kent Monkman’s Paintings Challenge Representations of Native Americans in Western Art

Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry whose subversive and oftentimes controversial paintings explore issues concerning the exploitation and misrepresentations of the First Nations in North America. His eclectic mash-up of art historical references, role reversals and revised narratives challenges the Western art canon head on -- from the romantic landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt to the cubist works of Pablo Picasso. Monkman has exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, and is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.


Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry whose subversive and oftentimes controversial paintings explore issues concerning the exploitation and misrepresentations of the First Nations in North America. His eclectic mash-up of art historical references, role reversals and revised narratives challenges the Western art canon head on — from the romantic landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Albert Bierstadt to the cubist works of Pablo Picasso. Monkman has exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, and is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.



Monkman’s work is largely inspired by 19th century depictions of Native Americans — specifically the paintings of George Catlin, who in the 1830s was known for his portraits of Plains Indians yet portrayed his subjects as members of an idealized and static culture. Monkman told Huffington Post, “Catlin and others were obsessed with capturing the peoples who wouldn’t exist for the future.” The artist also noted, “Museums have contributed to this idea. As a kid I would go down to the museum in Winnipeg and see indigenous cultures represented in this perfect state. This is what we were supposed to be. And then I’d step out onto the street and see skid row and the fall out of colonization.”


The artist’s paintings are perhaps best known for their mimicry of historical works of art, appropriating imagery as a form of dialogue with the past to address the ever-relevant issues of stereotypes, cultural oppression, gender and sexuality, and misrepresentation of indigenous cultures. In one recent exhibition, titled Urban Res, the artist places cubist figures from Picasso’s paintings into urban environments, which act as the settings for violent upheaval. These subjects, which Monkman describes as “representative of the compression of indigenous cultures,” are presented as casualties of violence and disease, tended to and mourned by groups of indigenous youths.


In another exhibition, Expelling the Vices, Monkman recreates scenes from 19th century paintings using allegories from Western culture to “reference the lies, failed promises and broken treaties perpetuated by the Canadian and US Governments against indigenous people.” Starring in the roles of powerful and mythological women is Monkman’s spikey-heeled alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, a trickster figure who represents the third gendered figure in Native American cultures and is featured in many of the artist’s works.



Monkman is a multimedia artist, who aside from his paintings has produced works in the form of film/video, performance and installation. The artist is currently participating in a group exhibition titled The Position We’re In at the Kansas City Art Institute through September 2, 2016. The artist also has two upcoming exhibitions: The Four Continents at the Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, and “Shame & Prejudice: A Story of Resilience” at the Art Museum Toronto.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
Shiqing "Demo" Deng is known for both riveting and haunting paintings, in which surreal surprises hide in the contours of her figures. She recently showed this work at Parasol Projects @ 213 Bowery in a show titled "All My Friends Are Monsters." The gallery says she often uses "fellow artists as the primary players" in her work, further facilitating a look at varying realities.
Painter Brad Kunkle (featured in HF Vol. 25) delves further into his exploration of spirituality and ritual with his latest solo show, "The Belonging," opening at Arcadia Contemporary in New York on December 11. The artist combines oil paint with gold and silver leaf to create ethereal visions of women traversing windy fields. They seem to be on spiritual quests. We see them being lifted off the ground, their expressions knowing yet still enraptured, as glistening gusts of leaves and feathers sweep them away into the heavens.
Vincent Castiglia, an artist who exclusively uses human blood to craft his dark-surrealist paintings, is the focus of a new show at Dark Art Emporium Gallery in Long Beach. "Autopsy of the Soul" offers both new works and a retrospective of the artist, who’s also been commissioned by patrons such as Gregg Allman, Gary Holt of Slayer, and Margaret Cho (using their blood, instead of his). The show begins on June 8.
Examining the theme of survival, the floral figures of Sage Vaughn's recent body of work carry elegance and provocation. Recent work shown at Unit London, rendered in acrylic, ink, oil, and vellum on canvas, show an artist reflecting on the power and harshness of nature. Vaughn was featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 26.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List