The two works of art I have chosen to compare reside in the "Art Gallery of Ontario" in Toronto. While the two pieces are very different in terms of artistic medium and period, the painting “The Academy,” by Kent Monkman, directly references Auguste Rodin’s sculpture “Adam.” The sculpture is a giant bronze cast from 1881 inspired by Michelangelo's “Creation of Adam” ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel. “The Academy” by Canadian painter Kent Monkman was commissioned by the AGO in 2008. The work was created as a visual commentary on the “injustices and oppressions faced by Aboriginal people” (Filgiano) As different as they may seem, Kent Monkman “takes into borrowed" the theme of Rodin's sculpture "Adam" to create an analogy between Adam's exile from paradise and the Aboriginal people's loss of paradise through colonization. Kent Monkman is an artist of "Aboriginal and Irish" (Filgian) descent who was commissioned to create a large Acrylic on Canvas, measuring 72" x 108". “The Academy” is a parody piece that references art created in the European tradition, along with Aboriginal art and artefacts. It hangs in the Museum Gallery along with some of the same pieces that are inside. It's as if Monkman is jokingly gossiping about his neighbors in the Gallery, both figuratively and literally. Although his work is significant enough to be displayed in the Gallery alongside these other masterpieces, Monkman makes a wry observation that the Academy's work has historically been considered the only legitimate art. Traditionally, Aboriginal art and artefacts have been confined to separate exhibitions or ancillary displays, but never alongside classical European pieces. The piece references a vast... medium of paper ......and Post-Impressionism,p.66). Rodin's sculpture shows Adam's finger pointing towards the Earth, indicating the underworld or Hell as he defied God and committed a sin. Because of Adam's madness, he was banished from the utopian Garden of Eden, out of the spiritual realm and into the physical world. Rodin borrowed his theme from Michelangelo and, in turn, Monkman borrowed it from Rodin; combining a Fresco on the Ceiling, a Sculpture, a Painting exhibited in a modern Gallery. The idea is what lasts over time, even if the delivery method or medium may be very different. Monkman's painting, “The Academy”, uses this idea in a cheeky and unexpected way as a commentary on Aboriginal social issues. This whimsical approach to serious issues endears Monkman to his viewers, which is probably one of the main reasons for commissioning this piece from the Art Gallery of Ontario..