Kim Parrent: Ring a Ding Dong Dandy 2026

This exhibition features portraits of Stampede wrestlers by Kim Parrent, capturing the energy of professional wrestling with graphic style and bold colours. Ring A Ding Dong Dandy features many stars from Stampede Wrestling. Kim Parrent captures the energy of professional wrestling with graphic style and bold colours. Focusing on each individual, Parrent gives attention to the costuming and personas of wrestling. Parrent’s portraiture juxtaposes pared back exposed canvas and loose rendering with glitter and bold fluorescent colour. This style represents the many contradictions present in wrestling itself. Wrestling is a sport that requires physical strength, athleticism, and wrestling’s violent altercations and machismo sit comfortably alongside pageantry, flamboyant theatrics, and soap-opera-esque story lines and made-for-TV rivalries. Stampede Wrestling was founded by Stu Hart and ran in various iterations out of Edmonton and Calgary from 1948 to 2008. Stu trained or supported all of the wrestlers featured in this exhibition and many trained in The Dungeon, an infamous gym in the basement of the Hart family home. Stu also trained many members of his own family including his son Bret “the Hitman” Hart and his granddaughter Natalya “Natty” Neidhart. Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta. Curated by Lindsey Sharman. About the Artist: Kim Parrent From Wrestlers to Rock and Roll, Kim Parrent is a Canadian artist born in Calgary, Alberta and has lived in Mallorca, Spain and Houston, Texas, and has a studio in Calgary, Canada. Kim has a BA in Art History from the University of Calgary. Her works have been featured in exhibitions across the United States, the UK and Canada, including graphic work in the National Music Center. You can see her work of athletes and rock stars at the Hitman Bar and the Grey Eagle Event Center in Calgary, and at Nevado’s Mexican Restaurant in Fernie, British Columbia. Her work has also been published in two books, Life is So Strange by Dale Bozzio and Luchadores vs. Everything by Masked Republic. Kim works with various media including oils, Swarovski crystals, photography, found images and metallics. Her subjects include portraits, social commentary, humor, art history, optical illusion and abstraction with Pop Art influence, capturing historical elements with a culture vulture curiosity. Art and music are an integral inspiration for over three decades of her work, with a long obsession with Rock and Roll and the spectacles of Mexican Luchadors and modern pro-wrestling entertainment. Since 2018 she has been painting local wrestlers who have become legendary worldwide – especially members of the Hart Family – paying homage to local promotion, Stampede Wrestling. Many of her autographed paintings of celebrities have been donated to local charities such as the Owen Hart Foundation, the Educational Partnership Foundation, Foothills Country Hospice, Homes for Heros Foundation, Cj92Kidsfund, Prostaid Calgary just to name a few. Community and engaging the public to invest in creative initiatives for positive change are important in her work. Website: https://alligetisstatic.com/ Instagram: @kimstaticc