Heaven and Earth 2001

Kent Monkman made this painting, Heaven and Earth, and it's like he's stirring up a conversation, maybe a little uncomfortable, about history and representation. The sky feels heavy, painted with thick brushstrokes that mimic the drama of the scene below. There’s a buffalo with an arrow in its side, a figure in a headdress, and a cowboy... Monkman’s got a way of taking these old stories and twisting them, playing with the roles and who gets to tell the story. I imagine him in the studio, layering the paint, each stroke a deliberate act of re-imagining. The texture alone tells a story - it's kind of bold. It's almost like he's saying, "Let’s look at these myths again, but this time, let's turn them inside out." It makes you wonder about all the paintings of cowboys and Indians and how much those images shaped our ideas. Painting lets us ask questions without giving easy answers. And Monkman? He’s asking some big ones.