Copyright: Kent Monkman,Fair Use
Kent Monkman made this painting called Honour Dance at some point in his life, and it’s pretty great. He's got this way of laying down color that feels both really precise and totally loose. Like he knows exactly where he's going, but he's not afraid to let the paint do its thing. You can see it in the skin tones of the figures, all these subtle shifts in color. The surface has a kind of luminous glow, but then there are these moments where the paint gets really thick, almost sculptural. Look at the figure in the foreground wearing high heels - the way the pink ribbon contrasts with his skin. It's like Monkman is playing with ideas around gender and sexuality, and power. It reminds me a little of Delacroix, that same sense of drama and movement, but with a totally contemporary edge. It just goes to show that art is always in conversation with itself, with the past, and with the present.
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