23/4/2008 - KENT MONKMAN at NEXT: the invitational exhibition of emerging art (Chicago) with Dil Hildebrand CLICK HERE

Kent Monkman's history paintings are revisionist investigations of early European, British and American reportage on First Nation cultures. They take they visual cues from a controversial image of savage yet noble indigenous cultures. As the nineteenth century began, the vast area west of the Mississipppi and Red River systems was a mysterious void to most North Americans. However, from 1803, more than three million square miles revealed their secrets to an army of naturalists, adventurers and invaders.In the 1850 the "wild land" was depicted, with misleading embellishments, through the eyes of a few bold painters, most of European descent. Albert Bierstadt's romanticized landscapes of mid-west America developed from plein air sketches after which waterfalls, aboriginal figures and distortions of geography were added. The visual art of Bierstadt became a starting point for Monkman's own reportage of landscapes and indigenous portraits. (source: Montreal Biennale 2007 catalogue, p. 112).

Born in 1965, Kent Monkman is an artist of Cree ancestry who works with a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance and installation. He has had solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, Walter Phillips Gallery, and the Indian Art Centre. The solo exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of Hamilton will travel to additional venues like the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Monkman has participated in various international group exhibitions including: “We come in peace…” Histories of the Americas, at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and The American West, at Compton Verney, in Warwickshire, England and in "ReMix" at the Heard Museum. His award-winning short film and video works have been screened at various national and international festivals, including the 2006 Berlinale. His work is represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum London, The Mackenzie Art Gallery, the Woodland Cultural Centre, the Indian Art Centre, and the Canada Council Art Bank. His works will be presented in New York next June at the National Museum of the American Indian as part of "ReMix" and at the Art Gallery of Mississauga as of July 17.

For a current list of works in inventory please click here

April 2008 - NEXT - the invitational exhibition of emerging art (Chicago) with Kent Monkman
May 2007 - Hunting Scenes and Other Amusements from the Great North West (solo), Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain

Artist's website at urbannation.com
Meet the Artist at the National Gallery of Canada
Richard Rhodes. "Top Ten Exhibitions of 2007" Canadian Art (online) Jan, 2008
Bryne McLaughlin. "Kent Monkman in Toronto." Canadian Art (online) 11 Dec. 2007
Debra Antoncic. "In Review: Kent Monkman, Art Gallery of Hamilton." Canadian Art (online) 1 Dec. 2007
Paul Gessel. "Aboriginal art with attitude." The Ottawa Citizen 26 July 2007
Isa Tousigant. "On the hunt." The Hour (Montreal) 5 July 2007
Richard Burnett. "Gone with the Wind." The Hour (Montreal) 14 June 2007
Nicolas Mavrikakis. "Légendes du Nouveau Monde." Voir (Montreal) 14 June 2007 (in French)
David Liss. "Kent Monkman: Miss Chief's Return." Canadian Art Fall 2005

click icon below to download a recent C.V. of the artist (adobe PDF)