Phillips’ Dropshop Announces Kent Monkman as Featured Artist for April

NEW YORK – 4 APRIL 2024 – Phillips is pleased to announce Kent Monkman as the featured artist for the upcoming April Dropshop. Following the highly acclaimed Cree artist’s recent showcase in the PhillipsX Exhibition New Terrains: Contemporary Native American Art, Monkman will be offering six unique works from his latest series, Portraits of a Legend, along with How the West Was Won, a watercolor hand-painted etching available in a limited edition of 30. These exclusive pieces, priced at $15,000 each for the paintings and $1,500 for each etching, will be available for purchase via dropshop.phillips.com at 10am ET on 9 April. Recognized as one of the foremost Indigenous artists in North America, Monkman's oeuvre confronts themes of colonization and resilience against the backdrop of classical European and American art. His works have been celebrated and displayed in prestigious institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Denver Art Museum, among other notable venues. Presenting Monkman's art through the Dropshop platform underscores Phillips’ commitment to showcasing diverse voices and perspectives within the art world.

 

Kent Monkman's latest series, Portraits of a Legend, features his alter-ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, in a new series of acrylic paintings. Donning her iconic dreamcatcher bra and high heels, Miss Chief roams Turtle Island's (North America) wilderness, hunting for love and communing with her kin, embodying myth and allure. With a painterly style reminiscent of eighteenth-century landscapes, Monkman's works capture the essence of studies by old masters in oil, ink, pen, and chalk, but suggest a time on Turtle Island long before European contact. While Monkman is known for his large history paintings interrogating Western art history-including The Met's monumental mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) diptych, these intimate portraits offer a glimpse into Miss Chief as a legendary being amidst pristine landscapes, immersed in the unspoiled beauty of Turtle Island.

 

How the West Was Won, a copperplate etching hand-painted in watercolor and offered in a limited edition of 30, explores themes central to Monkman's work. In a practice spanning more than two decades, Monkman has challenged colonial power dynamics, often reversing the stereotypical roles of Indigenous-settler relationships in cheeky encounters set against majestic North American landscapes. Early examples of this include Ceci n'est pas une pipe, 2001, Heaven and Earth, 2001, and Cree Master 1, 2002. How the West Was Won engages these themes within the iconography of the American West where Monkman's alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, dominates a cowboy against the backdrop of a desert, an open sky, and the imposing sandstone buttes of Monument Valley.

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kent Monkman is an interdisciplinary Cree visual artist. A member of Fisher River Cree Nation in Treaty 5 Territory (Manitoba), he lives and works between New York City and Toronto. Monkman’s gender-fluid alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle often appears in his work as a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples. His artworks are held in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Denver Art Museum; the Hirshhorn Museum; the Hood Museum of Art; the Heard Museum; Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal; the Glenbow Museum; the Art Gallery of Ontario; the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Forge Project; and La Maison Rouge, Paris. Private collections that house his works include Art Bridges; the Horseman Foundation; the Tia Collection, the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation; Forge Project; the Gochman Family Collection; the Sobey Art Foundation; and the Rob & Monique Sobey Foundation. In 2019, Monkman was commissioned as the inaugural artist to make two monumental paintings for The Met’s Great Hall Commission project. In 2023, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada – Canada’s highest civilian honor. 

 

Click here for more information: https://dropshop.phillips.com/

 

ABOUT DROPSHOP

Dropshop, Curated by Phillips, offers exclusive Drops by creators, for collectors. Dropshop’s limited-edition releases of primary market art and objects are exclusive to the company's digital platform and conceived in partnership with the artists, collaborators, and brands shaping contemporary culture. Items are available through a timed “buy now” e-commerce model at www.phillips.com/dropshop. By redefining the dynamics of the traditional art market framework, Dropshop's goal is to connect artists, galleries, curators, institutions, and non-profit organizations with a global collecting community. Further, creators will receive a resale royalty commission for any work purchased from Dropshop that is subsequently re-offered at Phillips — an industry first.

 

ABOUT PHILLIPS

Phillips: where the world’s curious and bold connect with the art, design and luxury that inspires them. As a leading global platform for buying and selling 20th and 21st century works, Phillips offers dedicated expertise in the areas of Modern and Contemporary Art, Design, Photographs, Editions, Watches, and Jewels. Auctions and exhibitions are primarily held in New York, London, Geneva, and Hong Kong, with representative offices based throughout Europe, the United States and Asia. Phillips offers a regular selection of live and online auctions, along with items available for immediate purchase. Phillips also offers a range of services and advice on all aspects of collecting, including private sales and assistance with appraisals, valuations, and financial planning.

Visit phillips.com for further information.

 

 

PRESS CONTACTS:            

NEW YORK – Jaime Israni, Head of PR and Corporate Communications, Americas     jisrani@phillips.com  

 

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