Media Release - For Immediate Release
October 15 2010
Monkman Exhibit, a Triumph of Mischief
An example of Monkman's work, pushing the boundaries of 'masculinity and queer culture.' 
Kent Monkman's new installation at the Saint Mary's Art Gallery is sure to illicit strong emotions. |
Kent Monkman: The Triumph of Mischief
Saint Mary's University Art Gallery
16 October – 28 November 2010
Extravagant, ravishing, homoerotic, operatic, over the top – the installation that opened at Saint Mary's University Art Gallery in mid October is certain to elicit strong reactions from visitors. In giant paintings, installations, and performative videos, acclaimed Canadian artist, Kent Monkman, portrays unknown stories of personal encounters between European and First Nations males in the woods, mountains, and plains of North America.
The Triumph of Mischief assembles Monkman's paintings, sculptural spaces and objects, films, videos, and photography, from 2003 to the present. This powerful body of work overturns received histories of destiny, domination, and order, replacing them with scenarios of amorous chase, submission, and promiscuity. Acting simultaneously as both fables and follies, these scenes unfold amid the grandeur of The West, as romanticized in the nineteenth-century landscape paintings of Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Church, and Paul Kane. Monkman's Old West is a land of cross-dressing, role-swapping play between "cowboys and Indians" – a theatre in which Aboriginals assume the leading roles.
Kent Monkman is a Toronto-based artist of Cree, English, and Irish ancestry. Monkman draws inspiration from the colonial portrayals of Aboriginal peoples in 19th century photography and painting, and classic Hollywood westerns. Within these conventions, he constructs new stories that provide missing narratives and perspectives of Aboriginal peoples. His work also explores stereotypes of masculinity and queer culture, using sexuality to challenge the authority of established histories.
At the center of Monkman's work is his performance-art alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle (punning "mischief" and "egotistical"). In the rugged continental interior, Miss Chief — two-spirited libertine, time traveller and shaman — skews the compasses of adventuring soldiers, missionaries, trappers, traders, and frontier artists, luring them off course and into his/her clutches.
Recently featured at the 17th Biennale of Sydney in May 2010, Monkman's reputation has soared since The Triumph of Mischief began its national tour in 2007. Leading museums have acquired important examples of his work, including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and Glenbow Museum, all included in this exhibition, as well as the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
Conceived by David Liss, Director/Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and Shirley Madill, The Triumph of Mischief began as a collaborative project between MOCCA, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV). A full-colour catalogue, featuring essays by Liss, Madill, David McIntosh and Gerald McMaster, and an interview of the artist by Cathy Mattes, is available for purchase for $49.95.
All Saint Mary's University Art Gallery exhibitions and programmes receive significant support from the Canada Council for the Arts.
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For More Information:
Steve Proctor
External Affairs
Saint Mary's University
(902) 420.5513
E-mail: steve.proctor@smu.ca
www.smu.ca
This page last modified Tuesday, 11-Jan-2011 11:52:05 AST