KENT MONKMAN
The Annunciation
Date: 2025
Dimensions: 72” x 90”
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Condition: Overall very good
Provenance:
– Artist
– Trotta-Bono Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Set against a Bierstadt-inspired mountain landscape, The Annunciation depicts Indigenous and Anglo men wrestling, playing music, and celebrating by the lake, all charged with Monkman’s sharp satire and humor. Floating above them is Monkman’s alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle – a Christ-like figure who both blesses and playfully challenges narratives of power and identity. A bare-chested, painted Scotsman draped below the waist humorously blurs cultural lines, recalling historic Rendezvous gatherings as sites of alliance and cultural negotiation. The painting reclaims a landscape often erased by Western expansion, repopulating it with Indigenous presence, queer resilience, and ironic wit.