Lot 26
David Ruben Piqtoukun ᑎᕕᑎ ᐱᑐᑯ ᕈᐱᐃᓐ (b. 1950)
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
Note:
The joy of hearing stories told by his mother and grandmother about shamanism and traditional beliefs influenced a young David Ruben Piqtoukun and has spawned images recurring throughout the artist's career. In the present sculpture, Piqtoukun has addressed the legend of Lumak.
In the legend, Lumak, a young blind boy, is taken advantage of by his greedy mother until a loon takes pity on him and restores his eyesight through immersion in the sea. Later, Lumak punishes his mother by lashing her to a whale.[1] In the present work, Piqtoukun has given us an image of Lumak atop the creature, being whisked undersea to have his vision restored. As in other depictions of eyes in the work of Piqtoukun, the eyes of the blind boy and the whale are emphasized by contrasting inlay. Lumak and the Whale Legend has been executed with notably delicate fine detail despite its monumental scale.
[1] Frans Boas, The Central Eskimo (Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1964), 217-218.