La galerie Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain est fière de présenter une exposition de dessins de Shuvinai Ashoona et Annie Pootoogook en collaboration avec la galerie Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto).

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Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is pleased to present Contemporary Traditions from July 11 to August 29, 2009. This two-person show features new and recent drawings by renowned Cape Dorset artists Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook. In their respective works, Ashoona and Pootoogook raise issues of Inuit cultural difference and its representation through both contemporary and traditional forms.

Ashoona and Pootoogook are chroniclers of the everyday; although the subjects they depict and the themes they explore attest to the complexity of life in their Northern community. Landscapes rich in colour are juxtaposed with stark, unpopulated campsites seen from above. Images of lively social gatherings, including both family and friends, are contrasted to portraits of isolation and loss.

As contemporary artists, Ashoona and Pootoogook navigate within and outside of certain thematic territories associated with Inuit art. Their works are generally pictorial in nature, but firmly rooted in the narrative tradition. Allusions to the past are abundant in their renderings of the present; however, pop culture or “Southern” references such as televisions and airplanes are just as ubiquitous. The spiritual side of life is sometimes reflected in the worlds they create – drawing equally from Inuit or Christian sources.

Cultural and geographical dichotomies are continually being used to distinguish and define Inuit “ways of living” in relation to their non-Inuit counterparts to the South. Through their representational drawings of daily life, Ashoona and Pootoogook both confirm and challenge these longstanding perceptions. In doing so, they create a space for future dialogue.

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Shuvinai Ashoona (b. 1961, Cape Dorset, Nunavut) has been producing works on paper since 1995 and has contributed to the Cape Dorset annual print collection since 1997. A solo exhibition of Ashoona’s work was presented at Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto) in 2006. More recently, she presented work at the Basel Art Fair in 2008. Ashoona is the subject of the film Ghost Noise : a short film with Shuvinai Ashoona (2009) directed by Marcia Connolly.

Annie Pootoogook (b. 1969, Cape Dorset, Nunavut) has exhibited her prints and drawings extensively, most recently at the Power Plant (Toronto, 2006) and Documenta 12 (Kassel, 2007). She was the recipient of the Sobey Art Award in 2006. Pootoogook is the subject of the documentary Annie Pootoogook directed by Marcia Connolly.

The gallery is pleased to announce the screening of the two films, about Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook, in its video room for the duration of Contemporary Traditions.

Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain would like to thank Feheley Fine Arts for its collaboration in presenting artworks by Ashoona and Pootoogook.