Showtime

Who: Kent Monkman

What: The Triumph of Mischief

Where: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W.

When: Until Aug. 26

Phone: 905-527-6610

Kent Monkman takes a long, hard look at art's most respectable genre, the history painting, adopting its style to undermine its authority.

Monkman's paintings, installations and films are showcased in The Triumph of Mischief, a provocative and humorous exhibition at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

In his paintings, the Toronto artist, who is of Cree ancestry, draws on the past. Traditional painters depicting history always did so in a lifelike style. They knew that a lifelike style gave their version of events the look of accuracy. So Monkman follows in their footsteps. And he paints big and encloses his canvases in ornate frames, making his pieces look old-fashioned and respectable.

The exhibition's title, and Monkman's painting of the same name, recall historical paintings with similar titles. The Triumph of Britannia and the Triumph of Bacchus come to mind. The first one, an 18th-century work by Francis Hayman, glorifies empire building. The second, a subject loved by many artists for almost 2,000 years, was an excuse to depict beautiful bodies in sexual and drunken merriment against gorgeous settings.

In The Triumph of Mischief (2007), we are sucked into the painting by the beautiful landscape, a valley framed by two mountain peaks. It's the kind of setting loved by 19th-century Romantics.

In the foreground, Monkman adds human figures engaged in a variety of activities. Three cute cupids with pink fabric fly through the air. A centaur gallops on the right. Centaurs, part man and part horse, were popular in ancient Greek art and mythology. They represented the uncivilized side of human nature.

But Monkman's centaur is blond, so he's a representative of white, European culture. He's ridden by an Indian, the tamer of the white man's savagery.

After all, Monkman is challenging the long-lasting myth of how Christian white folk tamed and civilized North America's indigenous peoples.

Some of the figures are engaged in sexual encounters, but with the natives in control of the white men. Monkman exploits the western ideal of sex as power -- but with a twist.

The painting also includes references to monuments of art history. A small urinal, a reference to Marcel Duchamp's pivotal Fountain (1917), lies almost hidden in the left foreground. Duchamp's work paved the way for installation art, which is yet another genre tackled by Monkman. His Crystal Lodge (2007) is to die for.

Monkman's alter ego appears throughout the exhibition, elegantly attired in a feathered headdress, sequined loincloth and high heels.

This dark-haired beauty looks a bit like Cher. And her name is sometimes Mischief Cher Egotistical, but at other times it's Miss Chief Share Eagle Testickle.

I have only one complaint about the show: some of the paintings are not well hung. The salon style of display is appropriate, certainly, but a few pieces are so high that short people like me can't see all the details.

Monkman will be talking about his work at 7 p.m., July 26, at the AGH. Preregistration is recommended, by calling 905-527-6610, ext. 272.

Regina Haggo, a former professor of art history at University of Canterbury in New Zealand, teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art. You can contact her at dhaggo@thespec.com.