WHIMSY, ARCTIC STYLE: The Lighthearted in Inuit Art

For some strange reason, when the topic of art by Indigenous artists comes up, the tone is always deadly serious.  It is as if it is assumed that Indigenous people somehow lack a sense of humor.  That could not be further from the truth.  This is particularly problematic for the Inuit.  This has been fueled in part by historical photographs showing Inuit in traditional clothing and wearing a dour expression.  Like humans the world over, Arctic peoples laugh and have a sense of humor, which is often reflected in their artistic output.  Although there are many serious as well as controversial Inuit works in my collection, quite a number are delightfully whimsical.  Among my favorites are Young Bird in Flight by Kenojuak Ashevak, String of Pearls by Shuvinai Ashoona, Many Eyes and Auvviq (Caterpillar) by Ningiukulu Teevee, 35/36 and Brief Case both by Annie Pootoogook, and Space Earth Weather/Cloud Crown Fish by Pitseolak Qimirpik.

Young Bird in Flight by Kenojuak Ashevak, etching, aquatint, sugar lift & hand painted by Beatriz Sobrado Sámano, 31/50, Inuit, Cape Dorset, 30½”h x 40½”w, Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection # 13 (2010).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image courtesy of the Arctic Artistry Gallery, Chappaqua, NY and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

I was immediately drawn to the inherent humor of Young Bird in Flight – a young bird suddenly finding itself in mid-air and freaking out.  I was also intrigued that a non-Inuit had hand-painted each print (something that had never been done before) as well as by the use of the sugar-lift process.  At the time, I had no idea what the term sugar lift meant.  I eventually learned that it is an aquatint process.  The printer brushes a mixture of water, sugar, and black gouache onto the printing plate.  There are a few other steps but, basically, as the sugar in the solution devolves it “bites” into the printing plate. The resulting pits in the plate will hold the ink when the image is printed.  This process creates an effect of brush strokes.  The sugar lift technique certainly adds to the visual beauty of the piece by lending it a painterly quality and enhancing the blue and gold tones employed by the artist.  Kenojuak’s humorous perspective on Nature lends a special dimension to her work.  Seeing young birds attempting to fly is something she would have commonly experienced in her Arctic homeland, but Kenojuak allows us to see it through her eyes, choosing to present the subject in a whimsical manner.

String of Pearls by Shuvinai Ashoona, etching & aquatint, 17/30;  Cape Dorset, 31.5” x 22.6”, Cape Dorset Spring Collection #6 (2008).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image Courtesy of the Arctic Artistry Gallery, Chappaqua, NY and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

It can’t be denied that Shuvinai Ashoona has a distinctive (some would say twisted) sense of humor, which is clearly on display in String of Pearls.  Large hands, which dominate the page, pry open a clamshell.  Of course, pearls are found in oysters, not clams, but that doesn’t matter to Shuvinai. It is just part of the fun.  Also, these little treasures are not found already strung.  To add to the humor of the piece, the artist has the pearls look like eyes that are peering out of the shell at the viewer. Shuvinai’s work can truly be said to be idiosyncratic. In all of contemporary art, there is no one quite like Shuvinai Ashoona.  Celebrated for her dark sense of humor, Shuvinai has staked out a territory that is all her own.

Many Eyes by Ningeokuluk Teevee, ink, Cape Dorset, 16” x 13” (2005/06).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image Courtesy Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

Many Eyes is an unconventional drawing with scores of eyes in varying sizes staring back at the viewer.  The humor of the piece is disconcerting since it makes us wonder who or what, for that matter, is looking back at us.  The use of multiple images, in this case eyes, has a powerful, hypnotic effect.

Auvviq (Caterpillar) by Ningeokuluk Teevee, lithograph, 8/30, Inuit, Cape Dorset, 4”h x 5”w, Cape Dorset Spring Release #8 (2010).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image Courtesy of the Arctic Artistry Gallery, Chappaqua, NY and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

          Auvviq (Caterpillar) is one of the smallest Inuit prints ever produced.  Creating a print on such a tiny scale was quite daring since most Inuit prints are much larger, a few even oversized.  The dimensions of this work combined with the handling of the subject matter gives the piece charm and whimsy.  The fact that it is hard to tell which is the creature’s front side and which is its opposite end, creates the print’s gentle humor.  The tiny leaf is a clue, however.  The caterpillar, shown not much bigger than life size, is a creature most might overlook.  However, Ningeokuluk Teevee uses the unusually small scale of the print to draw viewers closer, forcing them to consider one of Nature’s most marvelous of creatures, which will miraculously transform into a butterfly.

35/36 by Annie Pootoogook, collagraph & stencil, Cape Dorset, 17” x 30” (2006).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image Courtesy Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

Annie Pootoogook’s print 35/36, supposedly inspired by her own bra, functions on a number of levels.  The focus is a red bra.  The artist has subverted the common Inuit printmaking practice of isolating one iconic image on the page by replacing the expected depiction of Arctic wildlife with a modern undergarment.  Perhaps the most modernist aspect of Pootoogook’s work is her use of a contemporary everyday object as a still life.  In doing so, the artist has created a subtly erotic work that slyly leads the viewer to consider the subject of Inuit sexuality.

Brief Case by Annie Pootoogook, lithograph on BFK Rives cream paper; Printer: Niviaksie Quvianaqtuliaq, 38/50; Colors: blue, yellow, pink, orange, green, purple; 17”h x 17”w, Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection #1 (2005). Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Image courtesy of the Arctic Artistry Gallery, Chappaqua, NY and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

 

Brief Case, a 2007 print of a series of men’s brief-style underwear, forces the viewer to consider Inuit people and culture from a new and different perspective – that of someone who knows firsthand the modern Inuit experience. During her artistic career Annie Pootoogook produced prints and drawings chronicling contemporary Inuit life as well as those in which everyday objects, such as eyeglasses, scissors, pill bottles, bras, men’s clothing and underwear, are presented as still lifes.  Often such works reveal Pootoogook’s playful sense of humor. In Brief Case, for example, not only is the title a witty play on words but the bright pastels, reminiscent of Pop culture and advertising, force the viewer to reconsider stereotypical ideas about the Inuit, as well as Native people in general, from the point of view of an insider.  Since many non-Inuit, including collectors, are stuck in a construct of life in the Arctic as it was lived in the past, this work is not only whimsical, but enlightening.

Space Earth Weather/Cloud Crown Fish by Pitseolak Qimirpik, Inuit, Kinngait (Cape Dorset), colored pencil, 15” x 22 5/8” (2022).  Collection of E. J. Guarino.  Photo courtesy of Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto and Dorset Fine Arts, Toronto.

How can you not smile when you look at Space Earth Weather/Cloud Crown Fish by Pitseolak Qimirpik?  This delightful drawing embodies the word whimsical.  The title alone is wacky.  It is unusually long as Inuit titles go, but it is part of the humor of the drawing.

The image presented is one of planets, clouds, an orange sunburst, a tricolor rainbow, lightening, a tree, a tulip, orange and black splotches, an orange splat, and fins that look as if they would be better suited as oars or boat rudders.  What the viewer sees appears to be some sort of fish, as the title implies, but it is more of a fantasy fish than an actual one.  Although the words Cloud Crown Fish are in the title, in reality there is no such fish.  However, the creature that Pitseolak Qimirpik created is oddly reminiscent of Nemo, a clownfish who is the main character in Disney’s animated film Finding Nemo.

Art is so often the subject of serious discussions that we forget that it was meant to be enjoyed in every sense of that word.  Humorous works are thought of as less consequential than those that are tragic.  (Comedies rarely win the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards, for example.) However, lightheartedness in art, as in life, adds much-needed balance to a collection and to our artistic education.  Life is made up of both tears and laughter, not just one or the other, and art should reflect that.