Abraham Apakark Anghik
Canadian, 1951
Abraham Apakark Anghik ᐊᐃᐊᔭᑲ ᐊᐸᑲ ᐊᒋ
Disc Number: W3-1205
Abraham (Apakark) Anghik Ruben was born on November 26, 1951 near Paulatuk, Northwest Territories. The accomplished Inuvialuk sculptor grew up with 14 siblings, moving seasonally on the land until the age of 8, when the Canadian government removed Abraham from his family and sent him to a residential school. He stayed at residential school until 1970.
On his experience at residential school and the genocide they enacted, Abraham said in a Kipling Gallery biography: “…when I started attending the residential school in Inuvik, it was initiations of a sordid type. All of the things that my parents had been trying to teach us as kids, to become good men and women, had been turned upside down. A whole new set of values had been set in place that guaranteed I would have a screwed up childhood, and become a screwed up adult with an unbalanced experience and unbalanced view of life.”
In the Kipling Gallery biography, Abraham also spoke about his upbringing and his art, stating that “[m]y parents’ influences still have a potent impact on my life, both on a personal and artistic level. They have been the pathway to my past and the light to my future.”
In 1971 after leaving residential school, Abraham began to study art under Ron Senungetuk at the University of Alaska Native Arts Centre. He decided to pursue an art career, working in a variety of mediums such as printmaking, drawing, and jewellery, but mostly sculpting stone, bone, ivory, and bronze. Many of his sculptures are large, and Abraham emphasizes the importance of storytelling in his artwork. He focuses on Inuit culture, stories, history, and materiality. In a blog post outlining an acquisition of one of his sculptures by The Rockwell Museum, it is described that Abraham “…is well-known for the fluidity of his carving, for his merging of Inuit and Norse traditions, and for the strong narrative quality inherent in his work.”
Abraham Ruben has had numerous solo exhibitions since the 1970s, including at the Pollock Gallery in Toronto, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto, the Smithsonian in Washington D. C., The Guild in Montreal, and the Robert Bateman Centre in Vancouver among others.
His work has also been in many group exhibitions including in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, Canada’s Northern House at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Anchorage Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, and many more.
His artwork is found in a multitude of public, private, and corporate art collections. Some of these are the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum, the Canadian House of Commons, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada.
Since 1986, Abraham has lived on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Canada.
Sources: https://katilvik.com/browse/artists/3462-abraham-apakark-anghik/
http://www.abrahamruben.com/biography/ http://kiplinggallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/AbrahamAnghikRuben_BIO.pdf https://rockwellmuseum.org/blog/new-acquisition-ruben/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/abraham-ruben-order-of-canada-1.3856209
Disc Number: W3-1205
Abraham (Apakark) Anghik Ruben was born on November 26, 1951 near Paulatuk, Northwest Territories. The accomplished Inuvialuk sculptor grew up with 14 siblings, moving seasonally on the land until the age of 8, when the Canadian government removed Abraham from his family and sent him to a residential school. He stayed at residential school until 1970.
On his experience at residential school and the genocide they enacted, Abraham said in a Kipling Gallery biography: “…when I started attending the residential school in Inuvik, it was initiations of a sordid type. All of the things that my parents had been trying to teach us as kids, to become good men and women, had been turned upside down. A whole new set of values had been set in place that guaranteed I would have a screwed up childhood, and become a screwed up adult with an unbalanced experience and unbalanced view of life.”
In the Kipling Gallery biography, Abraham also spoke about his upbringing and his art, stating that “[m]y parents’ influences still have a potent impact on my life, both on a personal and artistic level. They have been the pathway to my past and the light to my future.”
In 1971 after leaving residential school, Abraham began to study art under Ron Senungetuk at the University of Alaska Native Arts Centre. He decided to pursue an art career, working in a variety of mediums such as printmaking, drawing, and jewellery, but mostly sculpting stone, bone, ivory, and bronze. Many of his sculptures are large, and Abraham emphasizes the importance of storytelling in his artwork. He focuses on Inuit culture, stories, history, and materiality. In a blog post outlining an acquisition of one of his sculptures by The Rockwell Museum, it is described that Abraham “…is well-known for the fluidity of his carving, for his merging of Inuit and Norse traditions, and for the strong narrative quality inherent in his work.”
Abraham Ruben has had numerous solo exhibitions since the 1970s, including at the Pollock Gallery in Toronto, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, the Museum of Inuit Art in Toronto, the Smithsonian in Washington D. C., The Guild in Montreal, and the Robert Bateman Centre in Vancouver among others.
His work has also been in many group exhibitions including in the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, Canada’s Northern House at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Anchorage Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, and many more.
His artwork is found in a multitude of public, private, and corporate art collections. Some of these are the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum, the Canadian House of Commons, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada.
Since 1986, Abraham has lived on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Canada.
Sources: https://katilvik.com/browse/artists/3462-abraham-apakark-anghik/
http://www.abrahamruben.com/biography/ http://kiplinggallery.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/AbrahamAnghikRuben_BIO.pdf https://rockwellmuseum.org/blog/new-acquisition-ruben/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/abraham-ruben-order-of-canada-1.3856209