Janet Kigusiuq
Deconstructed

Janet Kigusiuq, PREPARING FOOD, c. 1992, Coloured pencil, 22 x 30 in.

A distinguished artist and notable colourist, the late Janet Kigusiuq remains as one of the greatly understated artists in the contemporary Inuit art canon. This exhibition of original works traces the development of Kigusiuq’s style from early linear drawings to a gradually increased use of colour, resulting in an exquisite series of sublime abstractions. Over a career span of 30 years, her experimentation with different media would set the stage for her final, dazzling works in tissue collage, completed approximately between 1995 and 2000.

The subject matter of Kigusiuq’s early, detailed narrative compositions are established through the use of minimal colour, strong lines, and repetition. The rigid rules of perspective did not particularly interest or inform Kigusiuq’s style. The absence of colour is notable as the figures are outlined in black lines on an empty background. Colour appears only as an accent, limited to the edges of clothing and fur on animals. Kigusiuq deliberately uses these elements to convey movement and balance within her compositions. This is evident in Preparing Food in which the circular composition and repetition of curved lines, particularly those highlighted by colour, lend a unifying element to the assembled figures. In Embrace the frieze-like repetition of two figures on either side guides the viewers directly to the central, embracing couple. The replication of figures in similar clothing suggests a mirror reflection, giving a sense of order and strength to the drawing. The early drawings show no evidence of the bold colour experiments that were to follow later in her career. The next several years mark an increased use of colour, while maintaining the detailed linear figures. Walking Figures features Kigusiuq’s characteristic repeating frieze of figures outlined in black and limited colour highlights, now placed in front of a vibrantly coloured, non-specific background.

Janet Kigusiuq, COMPOSITION (MUSKOX BY THE WATER), Coloured pencil, 22 1/4 x 30 in.

Hunting Muskox with Dogs maintains Kigusiuq’s signature narrative style, however the vigorously coloured dogs and muskoxen take on a life of their own. As this energizing scene takes place, the dog and muskoxen at the top of the composition passively watch the action of the hunt unfold. Simultaneously engaging as a stand in for the viewer, and as subjects involved in the narrative itself. Eventually, it appears that the characteristic figures become merely an excuse to support the areas of abstracted colour. In Childbirth the composition is split into two scenes; on the left, the woman giving birth and the man are placed on a background of variegated blocks of colour, while the group waiting outside are in the earlier style of linear drawing.  In Hunter and Dog, only the young hunter is left devoid of colour as he is placed in a fully impressionistic setting of colour blocks.

The curious muskoxen reappear in a conceptual landscape with no human presence in Composition (Muskox by the Water), an era of drawing in which colour took precedence over narrative structure. These experimental pencil crayon drawings would support the final phase of Kigusiuq’s graphic career.

In 1995, artist Kyra Fisher led a collage workshop in Qammani’tuaq, introducing artists to the process of layering and tearing tissue paper that is subsequently adhered to a paper surface with acrylic polymer. Kigusiuq blossomed in this new creative medium, allowing her to fully harness her passion for colour, form, and unique design.

In Composition, layers of colour, expressed through the textures and fiery dancing hues of tissue paper, suggest a landscape with a river. The introduction of this medium occurred at the optimum time in Kigusiuq’s career. Collage provided a means of continuing her artistic expression through colour and form, at a time when drawing with coloured pencil had become increasingly strenuous due to advancing arthritis. Kigusiuq’s collages reveal an artist who had become emboldened, experimenting with colour and abstraction as well as exploring the transparent and opaque qualities of a medium to which she had so recently been introduced.

Janet Kigusiuq, COMPOSITION, Tissue, acrylic polymer, paper, 27 1/4 x 39 1/2 in.

Many of Kigusiuq’s later images on paper reference the vast, treeless, almost flat Arctic landscape and are works of pure abstraction with no discernible landmarks. Relying purely on colour, Kigusiuq abstracted the Arctic environment, a landscape generally envisioned as lacking in all colours but white. In fact, the Arctic is often a riot of colour, with tundra covered in summer flowers or winter sunsets that painted the horizon line with brilliant primary colours, lighting the sky equally as much as the Aurora Borealis. Kigusiuq distilled the essence of the Arctic environment to its purest form, form and colour, which is the hallmark of all abstract art.

Feheley Fine Arts would like to acknowledge the essay Janet Kigusiuq: Colour (2017) by Edd J. Guarino, commissioned by Feheley Fine Arts, whose thoughtful insights into the artist helped inform this essay.