WINNIPEG ART GALLERY (WAG). Spring 2025
Abraham Anghik Ruben was born in 1951 and spent his early years on the lands north of Paulatuk and east of the Mackenzie Delta, in the Canadian Western Arctic. His family engaged in the seasonal cycle of hunting, fishing and trapping, and his recollections of early childhood are filled with memories of the land and his extended family. Life on the land ceased at the age of eight when he was sent to residential school in Inuvik. He made the decision to become a full-time artist in 1975. In 1986, he made the decision to move to Salt Spring Island, where he carves in an outside studio year round.
Ruben’s sculpture was featured in a solo exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2001. This new exhibition will be a retrospective of Ruben’s art works from 1975–2025. There will be approximately ninety sculptures of varied sizes and about ten large-scale paintings. The exhibition will highlight important personal milestones in his life, explore his deep interest in Inuit/Viking history and present a number of monumental recent works as well as large paintings inspired by the colours of medieval manuscripts.