An artist known for his gently curved figural abstraction, George Arluk has one of the most recognizable stylistic visions within Kivalliq carving. With a long career starting at a very young age, his early attempts were deeply influenced first by Tiktak in Rankin Inlet, then by fellow Arviat artists Pangnark and Tasseor. As Arluk matured, so too did his art; dynamic movement and abstract forms would transform faces and narratives. Here we are treated to something more than a figure or spirit (although the image is kind of dreamy): a wonderfully bulbous snowmobile and rider emerge from the black stone. The rider has apparently stopped and is seated astride the machine, looking up at the sky. Perhaps he is silently cursing a broken fan belt or a lack of gasoline – or he may be admiring a flock of birds or the night sky.

References: For a very similar work by Arluk dated 1969 see George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1992 edition only), fig. 836, p. 250. For one dated 1973 see Darlene Coward Wight, The Faye and Bert Settler Collection (Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2004), p. 46. For further works by the artist, see the solo exhibition catalogue George Arluk: The Song in the Stone (San Francisco: Images of the North, 1979); George Swinton, Sculpture of the Inuit (Toronto: M&S, 1972/92), figs. 835, 859, 904; Gerald McMaster ed., Inuit Modern: The Samuel and Esther Sarick Collection (Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2010), pp. 128-129.