• Jutai Toonoo

    (1959-2015), Kinngait (Cape Dorset)
Jutai Toonoo - Eskimo Tan

Eskimo Tan, 2010, oil stick, paper, 48 x 51.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Eskimo Tan (detail)

Eskimo Tan (detail), 2010

Jutai Toonoo - Dead Men

Dead Men, 2000, serpentinite, 26.75 x 10 x 6.5 in. Inscribed: “When you die you are not going to die, instead you are going to wake up in eternity wiether (sic) it’s good or bad, and it is your choice where you end up. It all depends on how you treat the least among you!”

Jutai Toonoo - Life

Life, 2015, oil pastel, paper, 23 x 30 in.

Jutai Toonoo - I Am Not Crazy

I Am Not Crazy, 2004, serpentinite, 7.75 x 1.25 x 2.5 in. Inscribed: "I Am Not Crazy."

Jutai Toonoo - Relationship With The Land

Relationship With The Land, 2006, stone, 14.5 x 15 x 10 in. Inscribed: "For four thousand years Inuit people had a bond with the land. Gone in one generation."

Jutai Toonoo - Bruised And Bloody

Bruised And Bloody, 2011, oil pastel, pastel, paper, 43 x 29 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Inscribed: "Here we sit in the north while our lives are being dictated by the south."

Inscribed: "Here we sit in the north while our lives are being dictated by the south."

Jutai Toonoo - God Hid Himself From Us

God Hid Himself From Us, 2004, stone, 8.25 x 6.5 x 7 in. Inscribed: "God hid himself from us."

Jutai Toonoo - Hierarchy

Hierarchy, 2002, serpentinite, 25.5 x 9.5 x 8 in. Inscribed: "Hierarchy, it is something I don't understand, how can a human look up to another human being?"

Jutai Toonoo - The Rock II

The Rock II, 2002, serpentinite, 19 x 8.5 x 7 in. "The stuff we're made of." JT

Jutai Toonoo - untitled (humans crawling over one another)

untitled (humans crawling over one another), 1999, stone, 2.5 x 2.25 x 2.25 in.

Jutai Toonoo - The Multitude

The Multitude, 2010, ink, paper, 19.5 x 25.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo -  "A hellish image of a multitude of people." JT

"A hellish image of a multitude of people." JT

Jutai Toonoo - Gargoyle

Gargoyle, 2001, serpentinite, 13.25 x 11.75 x 7.75 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Brethren

Brethren, 2000, serpentinite, 16 x 8 x 4 in.

Jutai Toonoo - My Boat Sank!

My Boat Sank!, 2000, serpentinite, 11 x 10.25 x 4.75 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Marijuana

Marijuana, 2013, color pencil, paper, 50 x 55.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Inukpatsuuk

Inukpatsuuk, 2001, white marble, 6 x 4.25 x 3.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo - The Lump

The Lump, 2001, serpentinite, 8.25 x 9 x 14.5 in. Inscribed: "The Lump."

Jutai Toonoo - Continual Pain

Continual Pain, 2006-07, color pencil, paper, 20 x 26 in. Text translation: "Sickness that we know, it hasn't stopped today, people who are close to me they are tired. For one full month, I haven't walked. You can lose your mind."

Jutai Toonoo - Spaceman

Spaceman, 2004, serpentinite, 26.25 x 16.25 x 4 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Inscribed: "I have flown with the birds. I have swam with the fish, rode along in a canoe with the seals, one day I hope to go into space with an astronaut,"

Inscribed: "I have flown with the birds. I have swam with the fish, rode along in a canoe with the seals, one day I hope to go into space with an astronaut,"

Jutai Toonoo - The Belly

The Belly, 2004, stone, 5.75 x 3 x 2.25 in. Inscribed: "The Belly."

Jutai Toonoo - Christian Rock Singers

Christian Rock Singers, 2006, stone, 11.5 x 7.5 x 5.25 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Mary

Mary, 2009, oil pastel, paper, 30 x 44 in.

Jutai Toonoo - "This started out as another self portrait and then I decided that it looked like a woman and named it accordingly." JT

"This started out as another self portrait and then I decided that it looked like a woman and named it accordingly." JT

Jutai Toonoo - My Last Carving

My Last Carving, 2005, serpentinite, 30.25 x 15.25 x 7 in. Incribed: "My Last Carving."

Jutai Toonoo - Double Minded

Double Minded, 2000, serpentinite, 9 x 10.25 x 6.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Massive Sky

Massive Sky, 2006, white marble, 10.75 x 8 x 5 in. Inscribed: "If we're really 64,000 mph. Spinning at 1,000 mph in the equator, than (sic) the sky must be massive."

Jutai Toonoo - Hungry Bear

Hungry Bear, c. 2004, serpentinite, 4 x 2 x 1.75 in

Jutai Toonoo - untitled (swimming seal)

untitled (swimming seal), c. 2004, serpentinite, 4 x 2.5 x 2.25 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Today Was A Strange Day

Today Was A Strange Day, 2004, granite, 19 x 13 x 6 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Construction Of Colors

Construction Of Colors, 2014, Pastel, 23 x 30 in.

Jutai Toonoo - A Life Changing Day

A Life Changing Day, 2005, stone, 12.5 x 9 x 6.5 in.

Jutai Toonoo - The Four Winds On A Calm Day

The Four Winds On A Calm Day, 2004, serpentine, 7.5 x 7.5 x 7.5 in. Inscribed: "The four winds on a clam day."

Jutai Toonoo - Inuujaq

Inuujaq, 2006, white marble, 18 x 7 x 4 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Booby Man

Booby Man, 2011, sugar-lift etching, aquatint, paper, 31.5 x 47 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Politician

Politician, 2011, sugar-lift etching, aquatint, paper, 31.5 x 47 in.

Jutai Toonoo - Stoic

Stoic, 2011, sugar-lift etching, aquatint, paper, 31.5 x 47 in.

Jutai Toonoo - New Age Christ

New Age Christ, 2008, etching, aquatint, paper, 24.5 x 22.5 in.

Photograph: Jutai with The Rock II; Marion Scott Gallery, Vancouver, 2005.

Relationship With The Land, 2006: "For four thousand years Inuit people had a bond with the land. Gone in one generation." -- Jutai Toonoo

Gargoyle, 2001: "This is a self-portrait. I'm not very handsome. Sometimes I feel like a gargoyle standing on the roof. Sometimes I'm like that: I just watch everybody. That's what gargoyles do."

The Lump, 2001: "He has no legs. It can't do anything. I was feeling useless when I made this. The figure is scratching his head: 'What am I doing?'"

Brethren, 2000: " In church when I look at the congregation, they all look unhappy. Heads down. Others are asleep because they are so bored. Only the pastor at the top is smiling. That's how it works."

The Rock II, 2002: " I did five of these with the idea in mind that they were going to be very minimal. I wanted to show the kind of rock we work on. I like to think of myself as a minimalist."

My Boat Sank!, 2000: "That was the year my boat sank. I was so frustrated I had to laugh. I lost everything--all my hunting tools. What could i do?"

Double Minded, 2000: "In the Bible it says, 'Double-minded people are unstable in all their ways.'"

--Jutai Toonoo, from the artist's 2005 interview with Robert Kardosh of Marion Scott Gallery (Vacouver) on the occasion of the show, Life Forms: Jutai Toonoo in Cape Dorset.

Hierarchy, 2002: "I was thinking about kings and queens and presidents and I was baffled. I look at people as people, even if they are the Chancelor of Germany or the Govenor-General of Canada. The way I look at it, we're all made of the same thing; we all have the same feeling; we all cry, we all laugh."

--Jutai Toonoo, from the 2002 Feheley Fine Arts (Toronto) show catalog, Toonoo's Legacy.

Spaceman, 2004: "I have flown with the birds. I have swam with the fish, rode along in a canoe with the seals, one day I hope to go into space with an astronaut."

Sitting Duck, 2001: "Here we sit in the north while our lives are being dictated by the south."