Jamasie Pitseolak (1968- )

Jamasie Pitseolak (1968- )
At 42, Jamasie Pitseolak is at the
forefront of a generation of Inuit
artists who are bringing new ideas
and sensibilities to the evolving
tradition of northern art. Born in
1968 in Cape Dorset on southern
Baffin Island, Pitseolak belongs to
the first generation of Inuit who
grew up in permanent year-round settlements. The son of artists
Mark and Ookpik Pitseolak, he began carving when he was 8 or
9, selling his first works to the Hudson’s Bay Company. One of
his earliest influences was his grandfather, Peter Pitseolak, a wellknown carver and photographer from the Dorset area. Feeling a
lack of connection with more traditional themes and unsatisfied
with the direction of his work, he began incorporating
unconventional modern imagery into his expression in the late
1990s.
Like many Inuit sculptors, Pitseolak works in a range of organic
and non-organic indigenous materials, including stone, antler
and ivory. The similarity ends there. Whereas most Inuit artists
produce sculptures from single blocks of stone, Pitseolak works
like a collagist, painstakingly assembling his images from
individually carved pieces. Equally inventive is his distinctive
modern subject matter. Instead of traditional images of hunters
and wildlife, Pitseolak tends to represent distinctly modern
objects—motorcycles, machinery with moveable parts, guitars
and tables (complete with vases). The majority of Pitseolak’s
works are marked by a playful charm, a quality reflected also
in his sculptures’ titles, many of which are based on puns. That
said, some works show a more serious approach, including
representations of guns and modern weaponry which it is
possible to read as the artist’s engagement with local and global
violence.
Pitseolak’s work is in many private and public collections,
including the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum
of Civilization.
Text © Robert Kardosh 2012
Selected Press
The Vancouver Sun, “Show pushes boundaries of Inuit vision”
Kevin Griffin, July 12, 2012
Canadian Art, “Surreal: Inuit Game Changer”
Hadani Ditmars, 2011
The Vancouver Sun, “Pushing boundaries of taditional prints”
Kevin Griffin, June 16, 2011
Canadian Art, “Jamasie Pitseolak: Northern Soul”
Leah Sandals, 2011
Gallery Exhibitions
Surreal: Eight Artists In The Fantastical Tradition
October 14 - November 20, 2011
Sweet Innovation: Sugar-Lift Etchings By Tony Anguhalluq, Kenojuak
Ashevak, Jamasie Pitseolak And Jutai Toonoo
June 18 - July 30, 2011
Jamasie Pitseolak: Sculptures, Drawings, Prints
May 12 - June 12, 2011
Marion Scott at 30
October 21 - November 26, 2006
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Selected Other Exhibitions
Blizzard: Emerging Northern Artists, grunt gallery, Vancouver BC, July
5 - August 4, 2012
Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3, Museum of Arts and
Design, New York NY, June 26 - October 21, 2012
Public Collections
Canadian Museum of Civilization (Gatineau, QC)
National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, MB)
PublicATIONS
Itee Pootoogook, 2011
Selected References
Robin Laurence, “Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration and Sweet
Innovation,” Border Crossings, vol. 30 no. 4, pp. 96 - 97.
Jamasie Pitseolak, “Jamasie Pitseolak: Coming From Today,” interview
with Norman Vorano, Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 1, Spring 2008
Marion Scott Gallery, 2423 Granville Street, Vancouver , BC Canada V6H 3G5
Tel: 604-685-1934 • Fax: 604-685-1890 • art@marionscottgallery.com • www,marionscottgallery.com