In contrast to Sikkuark's more representational family of bears (Lot 96), Spirit Cleaning its Nose is an exercise in the grotesque and the wonderfully absurd.

The lithe creature is carved with Sikkuark's characteristic precision, its slender, sinuous body terminating in a tightly curled tail of dark muskox horn. Its face is splendidly exaggerated, more cartoonish than terrifying. A long, lolling tongue of muskox horn protrudes from its gaping mouth, while a thin string extends from a nostril, tethered rather improbably to a stone.

Such irreverent bodily humour was a recurring pleasure in Sikkuark's art. He delighted in strange appendages, exaggerated features, and anatomical peculiarities, seldom feeling obliged to account for their presence. His creatures seem perfectly at ease with their own absurdity, leaving us to puzzle over, and take pleasure in, the peculiar workings of his imagination. However, in a related drawing offered by First Arts in December 2023, Sikkuark supplied a wonderfully matter-of-fact explanation for a similar scene. His figure was simply "cleaning his nose because it was itchy."

ND