Andy Warhol prints owned by Winnipeg Art Gallery headed to auction. Here's why

Funds from four famed prints of Queen Elizabeth II from an Andy Warhol series will be going towards buying work from Indigenous artists.

While walking through rows of Inuit art at Qaumajuq, Anishinaabe woodlands artist Blake Angeconeb said it felt powerful to be in a room full of Indigenous art. Angeconeb is one of the few First Nations artists who make a living from their work.

"It's our culture,” Andgeconeb said. “I just love seeing support. And that's the best way to support an indigenous artist - by buying their work."

On the floor below this display, Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) workers were busy putting together an exhibit with work from Blackfoot artist Fay HeavyShield in the same room a Robert Houle exhibit was in months before.

While workers paused, WAG CEO and director Stephen Borys said they are hoping to add more First Nations and Metis artists to the collection. The WAG says 40 per cent of the WAG's collection is from Inuit artists, and they are looking to add more Indigenous artists.

"One per cent of our entire collection is dedicated to First Nations and metis art,” Borys said. “There's a huge missing component and here we are in Winnipeg."

He’ll need money to do that.

To raise funds to create an endowment fund to purchase First Nation and Metis art, the WAG is selling prints of an Andy Warhol series: Reigning Queens.

He's hoping the art auction will raise a million dollars. It’s currently appraised between $700,00 - $900,000.

The symbolism of Queen Elizabeth II going out its doors - and Indigenous art coming in - is not lost on Borys.

"The fact that those will generate a significant dollar to allow us to buy Indigenous art, for me, is incredibly powerful,” he said. "We do know the association of the monarchy with colonization and oppression and other things."

For Andgeconeb, it’s like watching reverse colonization through art.

"Selling a Warhol that's of the Queen, it's moving away from art that represents the monarchy and colonization and replacing it with Indigenous artwork,” Andgeconeb said. "I love it. It just shows the WAG is taking the step in promoting Indigenous artists and representing the society and community better."

That step paints a picture of the future Angeconeb hopes to see for Indigenous artists.

“Just everybody creating as they will, and sharing culture and respecting each other and just creating beautiful artwork for people."

The WAG will use interest collected from the sale to purchase art from diverse artists, starting with contemporary Indigenous artists. The auction will happen at the Cowley Abbott Spring Live Auction on June 8 in Toronto. Cowley Abbott is donating its selling commission to the WAG’s endowment fund.