Twelve by Twelve
June 9 – 25, 2022
We are pleased to present the group exhibition Twelve by Twelve, featuring 12 stellar works by 12 great Inuit artists. Expertly selected by Pat Feheley herself, these works represent the breadth and diversity in style and subject presented by artists from the Canadian North. Artists in the show come primarily from Kinngait, Nunavut, with the exception of Niap who was born in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik and is now based in Montreal.
Works range from the small and serene, such as Niap’s tranquil landscape Killituk (2021); to the large and bold, such as Shuvinai Ashoona’s Composition (2024), (2022). Frenzied and fantastical, the creation of Ashoona’s piece was recently photographed and featured in a June 2022 New York Times article. In other works, subjects deemed more “traditional,” such as animals or shaman take on new and unique forms through specialized techniques. Both Quvianaqtuk Pudlat’s Composition (Sneaking Polar Bear) (2021), and Johnny Pootoogook’s Transformation (2019), demonstrate delicately applied colour pencil to add luscious texture to their work.
Nujalia Quvianaqtuliaq and Pauojoungie Saggiak are two artists who are on the rise. Quvianaqtuliaq works as a printer at the Kinngait Studios and also creates drawings. His first print was selected for the 2020 Annual Cape Dorset Print Collection and is representative of his preferred subject matter: the landscape. Saggiak’s animal images have been included in the annual collections many times, characterized by bold line and blocks of colour. Works by both artists in Twelve by Twelve utilize the daunting medium of black paper to create dreamy compositions in vibrant coloured pencil.
Jutai Toonoo’s ink drawing Composition (Many Many Faces) from 2009 conveys a common theme in the artist’s work: identity and the fact that one person may be made up of many selves. Padloo Samayualie depicts mask-wearing figures strolling down a street in Kinngait, braving both a pandemic and global warming. Qavavau Manumie’s drawing Composition (Saving the Whale) (2022) also addresses contemporary issues related to the environment, such as overfishing. Helpful belugas free their fish friends from a net, while seals and birds pull walrus tusks out from a punctured whale due to unknown circumstances.
Colourful and dynamic, drawings by Ooloosie Saila and Ningiukulu Teevee harken to subjects from their earlier works, taking them to new levels. Saimaiyu Akesuk’s Composition (Stripe-Winged Bird) (2022) similarly draws on the artist’s signature style, colourful yet static, though she explores a new muted palette. Each artist’s work is unique in their own right, representing the truly diverse art form of contemporary Inuit art.
See each of the works in the online exhibition below paired with remarks by Pat Feheley.
COMPOSITION (MANY MANY FACES), 2009
Ink
17 x 45 in.
SOLD
Similar to his lithograph from 2010 titled Not me Anymore, Jutai’s work is often about identity. This piece, composed of hundreds of small faces that makes up an overarching abstract composition, speaks to many different aspects making up one single person. Though there are so many faces in this piece, they all encompass the one Jutai.
COMPOSITION (2024), 2022
Coloured pencil and ink
50 x 85 in.
SOLD
A summation of many different themes interwoven across her works created over the last decade: worlds, depictions of artists working in the studio, and monsters. Like so many great drawings by Shuvinai, it is full of fantastic imagery. It encapsulates so many elements that may not seem to work together but somehow, Shuvinai makes them work.
COMPOSITION (DUSK), 2010
Coloured pencil
29 7/8 x 88 1/2 in.
$3,600 CAD
There is something in Nujalia’s stroke that is very textural. Similarly, his mixing of light and dark tones almost appearing like fabric or stitching. It is difficult to get liveliness out of a muted palette, especially on black paper, but he succeeds. Nujalia has been working in the print shop for a number of years and the gallery has shown his works before, including a series of oil stick drawings. He excels at these beautiful, expanded landscapes.
TULUGAQ UTIRIALLAVIIRUTILLUGU (TULUGAQ'S NO POINT OF RETURN MOMENT), 2022
Coloured pencil, ink, watercolour
50 x 61 3/4 in.
SOLD
This large-scale painting and drawing hybrid by Ningiukulu captures some of her favourite subjects, the Owl and the Raven (Tulugaq). In Inuit mythology, the Owl paints Tulugaq with black soot, turning his originally white coat black. This scene marks the point of no return to Tulugaq’s previous self. Ningiukulu depicts this with exuberant energy.
COMPOSITION (SPOTTED BELUGAS), 2021
Coloured pencil
22 3/8 x 29 7/8 in.
$900 CAD
I have long admired Pauojoungie’s work and the gallery had a solo for her a number of years ago. What she is doing now is a departure from her earlier works of life on the land or subjects set in a scene. This drawing features ornamental belugas floating in space. The vibrant colour against black paper is spectacular — a delightful departure.
COMPOSITION (MOTHER AND BABY IN FLIGHT), 2022
Coloured pencil & ink
23 x 29 7/8 in.
SOLD
Here, Ooloosie is incorporating all elements from her earlier drawings into one piece. This includes the composition of the bird, always very colourful, now infilled with landscape and another bird. Much more abstract than ever before. It absolutely shows her mastery of colour.
COMPOSITION (SAVING THE WHALE), 2022
Coloured pencil & ink
23 x 29 7/8 in.
$1,600 CAD
Increasingly, Qavavau seems to be gravitating towards including a large central subject in his drawings. Here we see a whale which gives the drawing stability. The movement of the animals around the whale is very dynamic. Walrus tusks appear to have punctured through the whale as animals around it assist with extracting them from the whale’s body.
COMPOSITION (SNEAKING POLAR BEAR), 2021
Coloured pencil
44 1/4 x 29 7/8 in.
SOLD
His incredible meticulous detail combined with the bear’s furrowed brow and one glaring eye emphasise Quvianaqtuk’s deep respect for the natural world and familiarity with Northern wildlife. He is able to personify the animal while still maintaining naturalism.
COMPOSITION (STRIPE-WINGED BIRD), 2022
Coloured pencil
29 7/8 x 22 1/8 in.
SOLD
This appears to be a bird-bear transformation, with the bottom of a bear and the top of a bird. The stylistic elements are typical of Saimaiyu’s work, marked by dense blocks of colour. What strikes me about this is the muted colour palette. Saimaiyu has also combined unusual colours that normally might not match, but they work.
KILLIITUK, 2021
watercolour, ink
18 x 11 in.
SOLD
Niap is a multi-talented artist who works in many different media including photography, textiles, oil painting, and exquisite watercolour. In this particular watercolour drawing, her mastery of fine lines is evident. Its effect is deepened by the ephemeral quality of the washes. It combination with the hard undulating lines it really suggests an arctic landscape. This is a smaller iteration from her Silavut watercolour series which premiered at the gallery in July 2021.
TRANSFORMATION, 2019
colour pencil and ink
50 x 29 7/8 in.
$2,600 CAD
This incredibly powerful image of a half-drummer, half-wolf, stares directly at the viewer with its piercing blue eyes. As Johnny tends to work from photos, this type of imagined figure appears less in his work and is a unique composition. The realistic details done in coloured pencil and ink show Johnny’s mastery of the drawing medium.
GLOBAL WARMING, 2022
Coloured pencil & ink
29 7/8 x 23 in.
$2,200 CAD
This harkens back to Padloo’s earlier drawings involving telephone poles and wires in Kinngait. What truly intrigues me is that here, she has captured people in the community wearing medical masks, a comment on life during a pandemic. The title Global Warming suggests that these figures are also surrounded by melting snow, referencing the increasingly high temperatures in the high Arctic causing an early snow melt and a late ice freeze.