Lot 113
Bill Nasogaluak ᐱᐃᓪ ᓇᓱᒐᓗᐊᒃ (b. 1953)
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto, ON
Note:
The art of Bill Nasogaluak, an accomplished self-taught sculptor, painter and instructor originally from Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, has garnered notable curatorial attention in recent years.
Nasogaluak has created a body of distinctive, socially conscious artworks; sometimes wry in humour and sometimes unflinching in their directness. His imagery draws on Inuit Shamanism and mythology, as well as both Inuit and Western art historical traditions to investigate a wide range of the artist’s experience. Artworks confront issues as diverse as climate change, self-harm, depression, and the impacts of industry in the North.
In the present work Nasogaluak has directed his critical eye toward conventions in Inuit artmaking. Two swimming birds have been sculpted with recessed patches on their bodies to accommodate barcodes—a comment both on our encroachment on the natural word and on the worst effects of capital on artistic expression.