Up Front:
Inuit Public Art at Onsite Gallery Glenn Gear
May to August 2024
TakKik rising is a digital collage that explores themes of symmetry, geometric design, and the artist's personal connection to traditional Inuit craft. The mural is part of an ongoing exploration of these themes, which are rooted in the natural environment and informed by the artist’s materials-based interdisciplinary practice.
The artwork originates with photographs of beadwork and sealskin projects, juxtaposed with collected and gifted natural objects like driftwood, caribou antler, and mussel shells. These images serve as the foundation for digital kaleidoscopic designs, drawing inspiration from the natural symmetry found in snowflakes, particularly their six-fold symmetry.
TakKik rising is a celebration of the moon and the natural cycles of time as six faces gaze inward in a close huddle. Inspired by the colours of the sea and sky, the concentric beaded rings radiate outwards, while also attracting inwards with its hypnotic repetition of pattern and forms. This energy invites viewers to immerse themselves in its intricate design, amplifying the beauty of nature.
TakKik is moon in Labrador Inuttut - often written as taqqiq in Nunavut.
Image: Glenn Gear, TakKik rising, 2024
Glenn Gear is an Indigiqueer multidisciplinary artist of Inuit and settler descent currently living in Montréal. He is originally from Corner Brook Newfoundland and has family ties to Nunatsiavut. His practice is grounded in a research creation methodology shaped by Inuit and Indigenous ways of knowing – often employing the use of animation, photography and archives, painting, beading, and work with traditional materials such as sealskin.
Instagram: @glenngear
About Up Front:
In partnership with the Inuit Art Foundation, Onsite Gallery presents Up Front, a new series of commissioned digital murals by Inuit artists. Onsite Gallery recognizes the important contributions of the Inuit art sector and is pleased to work with the IAF to support Inuit art and artists in the public realm.
Up Front: Inuit Public Art @ Onsite Gallery is made possible with the support from the City of Toronto’s Indigenous Arts and Culture Partnership Fund, and the Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts.
Onsite Gallery Free Public Events
Glenn Gear Artist Talk | Up Front: Inuit Public Art @ Onsite Gallery – Saturday, May 11, 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.
In partnership with Inuit Art Foundation, join us for an artist talk with Glenn Gear at Onsite Gallery!
