Migrating Narwahls, 2010 CD-152-0311 coloured pencil, 13" ×19.5" |
Dance Dance Dance, 2010 CD-152-0273 coloured pencil, 25.5" × 19.75" |
Rowing His Boat, Bringing His Freshly Killed Seal, 2013 CD-152-0609 coloured pencil, 19.5 × 25.5" |
Calm Water, 2013 CD-152-0613 coloured pencil, 22.5" × 30" |
Whale Hunters Cutting Up Beluga in Fall, 2011 CD-152-0500 coloured pencil, 19.5" × 25.5" |
The Lady Shot 2 Seals, 2011 CD-152-0419 coloured pencil, 19.5 × 25.5" |
Untitled, 2000 CD-152-0017 coloured pencil, 20" × 26" |
Polar Bear Eating it's Favourite Food, 2010 CD-152-0417 coloured pencil, 19.75" × 25.5" |
This Fellow is Just About to Grind the Soapstone, 2007 CD-152-0149 coloured pencil, 19.75 × 25.5" |
Itee Pootoogook (1951-2014) Artist Biography
A resident of Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Itee Pootoogook belongs to a new generation of Inuit artists who transformed and reshaped the creative traditions that were successfully pioneered by their parents and grandparents in the second half of the 20th century. Born in 1951 in Kimmirut (formerly Lake Harbour) on southern Baffin Island, he moved to Cape Dorset when he was still a child. The son of artists Ishuhungitok and Paulassie Pootoogook, Itee had been drawing and carving for several years but it was only recently that he became actively involved with Kinngait Studios in Cape Dorset. The first print edition of Itee’s work, Looking South, was released in the Spring of 2008 as part of the “Nine Works by Seven Artists” contemporary folio. This was followed by the Fall 2008 annual Cape Dorset print release, in which Itee’s work was featured with two of his recent prints.
A meticulous draughtsman, Pootoogook looked primarily to contemporary northern life for his subject matter. He was especially interested in modern local architectural forms, producing works in graphite and coloured pencil that depict various contemporary buildings in Cape Dorset. Pootoogook’s portraits of acquaintances and family members similarly bear witness to the North of today. Whether they are captured at work or rest, Pootoogook’s subjects are shown engaged in a range of modern activities including stone carving and watching television indoors. Featuring a minimum of incident, these understated images celebrate the mundane moments that make up the everyday. Pootoogook was also an inventive landscapist. Many of his finest Arctic landscapes make use of extended formats, giving emphasis to the open horizon that separates land from sky. Although some compositions are produced from a combination of memory and imagination, Pootoogook based many of his drawings on photographs, an aspect of his artistic process that further highlights his contemporaneity. - Dorset Fine Arts