Kent Monkman, “Our Lady of Sorrows,” 2017, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in. © Peters Projects

Reinterpreting the 19th-century works of Alfred Jacob Miller, Kent Monkman creates a fascinating dialogue surrounding mythology, indigenous peoples, and tradition this month through his newest acrylics in New York City. Who’s hosting, and for how long?

Peters Projects, in collaboration with GP Contemporary & Gerald Peters Gallery in New York City, is excited to provide Cree artist Kent Monkman with a platform to discuss a range of engaging topics during “Casualties of Modernity.”

Kent Monkman, “The Deposition,” 2014, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 126 in. © Peters Projects
Kent Monkman, “The Deposition,” 2014, acrylic on canvas, 84 x 126 in. © Peters Projects

On view through March 27, Monkman’s sharply rendered and saturated paintings “appropriate Nineteenth century western artist Alfred Jacob Miller,” the gallery reports. Discussing his intentions with the solo show, Monkman suggests, “Drawing upon mythological sources, both European and Native American, my series of paintings will feature dynamic scenes of indigenous peoples, mountain men, and trappers in various scenes of revelry and interaction. I will include animals in the scenes as they are central to mythologies — from Greek myths to indigenous legends — that express the most profound aspects of human existence and shape our understanding of nature and the cosmos.”

Kent Monkman, “Love,” 2014, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in. © Peters Projects
Kent Monkman, “Love,” 2014, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in. © Peters Projects

The gallery adds, “Kent Monkman’s New Work focuses on his thematic approach to fine art history that excludes Indigeneity. Monkman is responding to two common problems faced by Northern Native artists and theorists, preserving tradition and retrieving that which has been silenced, as if one could reclaim a speaking position from the past, a space in time prior to and beyond the colonial order. Monkman does not attempt to resurrect the past as it was, but rather implies that knowledge of the past can inform the present and future.”

To learn more, visit Peters Projects.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.


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Andrew Webster is the former Editor of Fine Art Today and worked as an editorial and creative marketing assistant for Streamline Publishing. Andrew graduated from The University of North Carolina at Asheville with a B.A. in Art History and Ceramics. He then moved on to the University of Oregon, where he completed an M.A. in Art History. Studying under scholar Kathleen Nicholson, he completed a thesis project that investigated the peculiar practice of embedded self-portraiture within Christian imagery during the 15th and early 16th centuries in Italy.

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