Kevin McKenzie: Resurrection

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Gabriela García-Luna

Kevin McKenzie, "Resurrection," 2017

mixed media

In Resurrection, Cree/Métis artist McKenzie presents powerful sculptural installations with handmade cast buffalo skulls illuminated by neon and LED lights. For McKenzie, the sublime effect evokes Christian symbolism, and combined with Indigenous spiritual motifs, asks viewers to ponder identity and alienation, post colonialism, technology, Christianity, and cultural commodification.

Kevin McKenzie is Cree/Métis, born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. His family is a member of the Cowessess First Nation of Saskatchewan. McKenzie received his BFA, and is currently a candidate for the MFA program, at the University of Regina. He has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Indian Art Centre, Sakewewak First Nations Artist Collective Inc. and the Department of Visual Arts, University of Regina.

McKenzie has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 2, Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Don’t Stop Me Now, National Gallery of Canada; and If We Never Met, Pataka Art Gallery Museum, New Zealand. His work will be represented in Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute, New York, in November 2017. His work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Manitoba Hydro Corporation, First Nations University of Canada, Comox Valley Art Gallery and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. He has a permanent public sculpture in Whistler B.C. commissioned by VANOC Cultural Olympiad 2010. Kevin currently lives and works in Regina, Saskatchewan, where his multi-disciplined art practice is constantly evolving.

Resurrection is co-curated by Joanne Marion and Jennifer McRorie, Curatorial Director of the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, and is accompanied by a publication with a text by Daina Warren, Director of Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg. The artist thanks the Department of Visual Arts, University of Regina for its support.