Ulu by Bill Nasogaluak

$1,275.00

 

SOLD

 

Artist:                   Bill Nasogaluak

Community:        Tuktoyaktuk

Year:                      ~2020

Media:                   Stone, Unsigned

Out of stock

Description

This Ulu by Bill Nasogaluak from Tuktoyaktuk is a prime example of the work of Bill Nasogaluak, which has been described as

Unflinching of eye, and unwavering in the clarity of his artistic statements, artist Bill Nasogaluak has developed a highly distinctive canon of images encompassing subjects as diverse as shamanism and Inuit mythology, Western Renaissance traditions, climate change, depression, and the impacts of industry in the North.

A self-taught artist with a passion for both Inuit and Western art history, Nasogaluak is an accomplished painter, sculptor, and instructor whose prescient artworks have been garnering notable curatorial attention in recent years. [1,2]

Bill’s work is represented in important private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.  We are pleased to be able to offer this fascinating work from a talented carver.

In Ulu (Women’s Knife) artist Bill Nasogaluak presents an image, ambiguous and troubling in its focused intensity. The upturned body of an ulu forms the torso and outswept arms of a woman whose wrinkled face emerges from a hood perched on the edge of the blade.

For important related works by the artist in the collection of the AGO, see the ongoing exhibit “Bill Nasogaluak”, Click here to read more.

References:

1. Art Gallery of Ontario, “Bill Nasogaluak” 2021-Ongoing, Click here to read more.

2. Prnewswire, “Bill Nasogaluak: Shapeshifter” FFA, January 2020. Click here to read more.

Italics quoted from Waddington’s Auctioneers & Appraisers

Additional information

Weight 1.81 kg
Dimensions 12.5 × 1.5 × 13.5 in

Bio Bill Nasogaluak

About Bill Nasogaluak

Medium:
Drawing, Painting, Sculpture/Carving

Artistic Community:
Tuktuyaaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), NT

Date of Birth:
1953

Bill Nasogaluak is an accomplished artist originally from Tuktuyaaqtuuq (Tuktoyaktuk), Inuvialuit Settlement Region, NT, and now based in northern Ontario. In addition to working as a multidisciplinary artist, Nasogaluak is also a talented educator and trained electronics technician. Thematically, his artworks illustrate Inuvialuit culture and offer political commentary about the social, economic and cultural dimensions of contemporary Inuit life.

In 1999, Nasogaluak was a contributing artist and team leader for the new Ceremonial Mace for the Northwest Territories Legislature. Nasogaluak worked alongside artists Dolphus Cadieux and Allyson M. Simmie to create a piece that represented the people and the land. The final design is made almost entirely of bronze and silver and also includes marble harvested from the Precambrian Shield near Yellowknife, NT, a stylized narwhale tusk and pebbles collected from 33 communities in the region [1]. The mace also includes an inscription in ten languages that each read “One land, many voices.”

One of Nasogaluak’s notable works Sedna on Cross (2006), also known as The Death of My Culture, was featured in the Summer 2017 issue of the Inuit Art Quarterly. The sculpture depicts Sedna, the mother of the sea and source of life, nailed to and suffering on a cross. Created out of stone and metal, Sedna on Cross makes a powerful statement about the effects of colonization on Inuit communities.

Nasogaluak has completed several major commissions of Inuksuit on behalf of the Government of Canada in Guatemala City, Guatemala and Monterrey, Mexico, Saltillo, Mexico, New Delhi, India, and Lima, Peru, as well as an independent commission for an Inukshuk in Osaka, Japan. Previously, one of Nasogaluak’s sculptures was also gifted to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien by the Government of the Northwest Territories in 1994 [2]. Nasogaluak has exhibited works across Canada and internationally. His work is held in public collections such as the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, NT, among others.

Achievement
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002

Public Collection
Art Gallery of Ontario

Publication
INUA Catalogue, 2021

Exhibition
Bill Nasogaluak: Shapeshifter, 2020

You may also like…