Maslak McLeod Gallery - David Ruben Piqtoukun

Memories Myths and Legends Thirty Years in Development Artists are not born, they develop. It takes time. In the case of David Ruben Piqtoukun - thirty years. He began with memories of another world, stories recalled from childhood, life-feeding myths presented to his young mind. He sought a way to present to a new world the very core of his understanding of human life. He found his material in jade, marble, limestone, bone, alabaster, and steatite. He recalls that it took him five years to change a piece of stone that looked like a bear into the reality of a bear you could almost see moving, breathing, living on the polar ice. Finally, and infinitely more difficult - the leap into the spirit world where the breathing bear transforms into a spirit being. By this time David was travelling physically back and forth between the civilization of the south and the civilization of Paulatuk, the Inuit world- his spiritual home. The task was to keep alive the essence of the foundation of his birth world, and hone the artistic ability to explain this spirit to the viewer. The sculptures in this exhibition are a culmination of his thirty years of growth. They developed out of the mature talent of a gifted artist at the top of his form. Bird 8" / 4" x 4"

Bear Transformation, Steatite, 12" / 4" / 6"