Forest with Trees 2008

Kent Monkman's 'Forest with Trees' conjures a wild, romantic landscape, teeming with figures that seem both at home and out of time. I can almost feel the artist working, layering the misty grays and browns to build up that epic mountain backdrop. There’s this dance between control and accident, especially in the way the waterfall crashes down, almost dissolving into the rocks. It’s like Monkman’s not just painting a scene, but staging a meeting of histories, right? I imagine him thinking about artists like Albert Bierstadt, who painted these grandiose visions of the American West, and then inserting these figures, these Indigenous bodies, into the picture. They are reclaiming the narrative, queering the space with their presence. The colours Monkman uses for their clothes are so vivid against the muted tones of the landscape. It’s a bold move, this painting. It’s saying, "History is fluid, and we get to rewrite it." It reminds me of other artists who play with appropriation and recontextualization, like Deborah Kass or Fred Wilson, but Monkman brings his own unique perspective, his own sense of humor and defiance to the conversation.