The world upside down is one in which the symbolic order is turned on its head. It is a world visualized by artists where killer rabbits hunt humans and Superman is a hero of the Soviet Union. It is the Planet of the Apes as an allegory of racial discrimination. It is a place where Aboriginal North Americans dine alfresco at Edouard Manet's expense. This richly illustrated book portrays works of contemporary art and prose as examples of this powerful satiric creative impulse. Richard William Hill provides a context to the modern work presented in this volume with the history of this "art of inversion" in the visual arts of the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods. This catalogue accompanies World Upside Down, an exhibition curated by Richard William Hill, held at the Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff (September 30, 2006 - March 4, 2007); and co-produced with Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; Musée d'art de Joliette.

Richard Hill is a curator, critic and art historian of Cree heritage. He holds a PhD from Middlesex University, London; a BA from York University, Toronto; and an AOCA Diploma from the Ontario College of Art, Toronto. Dr. Hill's areas of interest and expertise include historical and contemporary art created by Indigenous North American artists. While Curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Hill oversaw the museum's first substantial effort to include North American Aboriginal art and ideas in permanent collection galleries. He curated Kazuo Nakamura: A Human Measure (2004), Art Gallery of Ontario; and co-curated, with Jimmie Durham, The American West (2005), at Compton Verney, Warwickshire. Hill's essays on art have appeared in numerous books, exhibition catalogues and periodicals. He has a long association with FUSE magazine, where he has been a contributing editor as well as a member of the board and editorial committee.

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