House of Miss Chief

Kent Monkman

Nov 20 2009 - Jan 9 2010

Opening:

Friday, November 20, 2009 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Fashion as a signifier of cultural flux is a theme that runs through Monkman’s multidisciplinary art practice that includes painting, filmmaking, installation and performance. From costume designs for his glamorous alter ego Miss Chief, to the flamboyant attire of his Aboriginal “Dandy,” House of Miss Chief is a focus on fashion in his art. Monkman examines how the adoption of European fashions in the nineteenth century was perceived to contaminate the authenticity of the First Peoples, and was scrupulously avoided in the paintings and photographs of documentarians such as Edward Curtis, Paul Kane or George Catlin.

Artist Bio:

Kent Monkman is a Canadian artist of Cree ancestry who works with a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation. He has had solo exhibitions at numerous Canadian museums including the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

He 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. Monkman has created site specific performances at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, The Royal Ontario Museum, and at Compton Verney, and has also made super 8 versions of these performances which he calls “Colonial Art Space Interventions.” His award-winning short film and video works have been screened at various national and international festivals, including the 2007 and 2008 Berlinale, and the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.

His work is represented in numerous public and private collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum London, The Glenbow Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, The Mackenzie Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Simthsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He is represented by Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto, and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK.

To watch short videos of Monkman explaining his influences and objectives, go to http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/showcases/meet/artist_e.jsp?artist...