Study for The Examination 2020

Kent Monkman made this watercolor called ‘Study for The Examination’, and what strikes me is the way that the earth-tone palette is offset by these bright pops of colour – red shoes, for example – which punctuate the scene, drawing our eye. The painting almost pulses with activity. I imagine Monkman starting with a rough sketch, layering in the figures one by one, each with their own story, their own sense of outrage or curiosity. Think about the challenge: How to arrange the figures to amplify the emotional tension? How to create a dynamic composition that leads the eye through the space? The Western figures remind me of history painting, but then Miss Chief Eagle Testickle is there with a knowing gaze. Here, painting is a way to explore history but it's also a mode of critique, or even refusal. Each brushstroke is a kind of questioning. It suggests that we are all constantly in conversation with the past.