Nick Sikkuark's "old timers" occupy a special place in his sculptural practice. Sikkuark affectionately used this term for the familiar Arctic animals, particularly polar bears, that he returned to throughout his career. Often small in scale, these delicate carvings possess a wonderful sense of personality, their expressive faces and finely worked features revealing an artist with a particular fondness for the peculiarities of his subjects.

In the present work, Sikkuark's mischievous sense of humour is especially apparent. The polar bear entering from the right might almost be mistaken for the missing half of the little fellow at upper left, creating a delightful visual puzzle. Such playful possibilities are characteristic of Sikkuark's imagination, in which separate forms seem to shift and suggest one another, and the familiar creatures of the Arctic acquire a wonderfully comic character.

FA