Jutai Toonoo When people talk about the changing face of Inuit art they often reference the work of
Jutai ToonooWhen people talk about the changing face of Inuit art they often reference the work of Jutai Toonoo, the 53-year-old Cape Dorset artist who has staked out new territory in the landscape of contemporary Inuit art. “I’ve always had this fascination with faces,” he said in a 2011 interview, adding that Inuit artists often “do the same things—animals, things from the past, igloos.” Increasingly, though, Cape Dorset artists like Toonoo, Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook are breaking that mould, picturing the social changes that are taking place in Inuit society, documenting the impact of mental illness, substance abuse and violence with harrowing honesty. Toonoo, though, is distinctive in exploring the psychological impact on the individual, making large-scale portraits of himself and others that surge with intensity and complex feelings, charged with the artist’s distinctive, feverish touch. These are particular selfs, not generic figures (the brave hunter, the industrious mother etc.). -- source link
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