Nick Sikkuark: Humour and Horror ᓂᑯᓚ ᓯᑯᐊ. ᐃᒡᓚᕐᓇᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᒻᒪ ᑲᑉᐱᐊᓇᖅᑐᑦ

Nick Sikkuark: Humour and Horror (ᓂᑯᓚ  ᓯᑯᐊ. ᐃᒡᓚᕐᓇᖅᑐᑦ ᐊᒻᒪ ᑲᑉᐱᐊᓇᖅᑐᑦ) is the first retrospective of this extraordinary artist, spanning forty-plus years of his career.

Born in the present-day Kitikmeot region of Nunavut, Sikkuark (1943–2013) was quietly successful, creating highly imaginative sculptures, drawings and paintings, all the while flourishing as an outlier within different art worlds.

Sikkuark’s creations are characterized by a harmonious blending of seemingly opposing elements – naturalism and imagination, the everyday and the bizarre, miniaturization and amplification, and most essentially, humour and horror. A fascinating part of his art is that we can discover the same creatures, story elements and iconography throughout, leaving us with a sense of wonder as to where they will turn up next.

As an unconventional Inuk artist, Sikkuark gained a dedicated following, but his art is not as widely appreciated as it deserves. Showcasing more than 100 works, this exhibition celebrates the remarkable and timeless art of this influential leader, who contributed to his community and the art world at large.