Kablusiak

Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak embraces the wideness of Inuit experience, encompassing in their work joy, despair, sexuality, and, as an Inuk living outside Inuit Nunangat, displacement. Across an agile practice that includes drawing, sculpture, installation, and video, Kablusiak pushes the conventions of modern Inuit art with wit, irreverence and camp.
 
At the Contemporary Art Gallery, the artist exhibits *Double Feature*, two bodies of work that wryly comment on the absurdities and rituals of art and culture. Addressing the lofty aspirations associated with “high art,” Kablusiak adapts their trademark doodle figures to spell out a message across CAG’s façade, nested among humorous and heartbreaking depictions of everyday life. At Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, the artist presents large-scale photographs of their mischievous Ookpik sculptures. Looking askance at the handcrafted doll’s fetishistic popularity in the Canadian imagination, Kablusiak draws on the respective intimacies of the mass market and the subcultural, emphasizing a place for both in contemporary Inuit life. 

#### Biography
Kablusiak is a renowned multidisciplinary Inuvialuk artist who creates work in a variety of materials including, but not limited to, soapstone, permanent marker, bed sheets, felt, fur, and words. Their work explores the dis/connections between existence within and without Inuit Nunangat, the impacts of colonization on gender and sexuality expressions, trying to make people laugh, and the everyday. Kablusiak holds a BFA in Drawing from AUArts in Mohkinstsis/Calgary, where they are currently based. In all of their creative work Kablusiak seeks to demystify Inuit art and create space for Inuk-led representations of the diversity of Inuit cultures. Their work can be found in the collections of the Indigenous Art Centre, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Art Gallery of Alberta, Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, and Global Affairs Visual Art Collection, among others. Kablusiak was awarded the 2023 Sobey Art Award and is represented by Norberg Hall.

CAG - Kablusiak - Exhibition Guide - Regular Print - P1.pdf

CAG - Kablusiak - Exhibition Guide - Large Print - P1.pdf

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CAG’s façade with Kablusiak's Double Feature across eight street-facing windows. The artworks are line drawn figures engaged in various activities. Some of the figures spell out words with their bodies.

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A pair of windows featuring line drawn figures engaged in various activities. Some of the figures spell out “for” and “better” with their bodies.

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A pair of windows featuring line drawn figures engaged in various activities. Some of the figures spell out “or” and “worse” with their bodies.

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A pair of windows featuring line drawn figures engaged in various activities. Some of the figures spell out “art” and “lives” with their bodies.

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A pair of windows featuring line drawn figures engaged in various activities. Some of the figures spell out “for” and “ever” with their bodies.

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A corner view of a SkyTrain station with photographs of Ookpiit in its windows. From left to right: two Ookpiit with leather gear, a Furby-inspired one, one with no fur and a Garfield-inspired one.

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A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with photographs depicting Ookpik figures, or stuffed owl toys, in its windows. From left to right are a Furby-inspired Ookpik, one with no fur and a Garfield-inspired one.

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A frontal view of a SkyTrain station with photographs depicting Ookpik figures, or stuffed owl toys, in its windows. The Ookpiit both have red fur and sport leather accessories.

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Double Feature

We’re working on our [upcoming exhibitions](/exhibitions-and-events/upcoming). Check back soon! [Visit our archive](/exhibitions-and-events/archive/all) to see past exhibitions and events.

Closed for installation

Divya Mehra

Please join us to celebrate the opening of CAG's fall 2024 exhibition: *Divya Mehra: ~~Live Laugh Love~~*.

All ages welcome. Cash bar.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

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Fall 2024

Opening Reception

CAG is delighted to announce its new annual gala event: a one-of-a-kind dinner experience helmed by a leading Canadian chef.

This year’s event will be led by the visionary Joël Watanabe, executive chef and owner of the Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto and cocktail bar Meo, and executive chef of Bao Bei Brasserie. Offering guests an exceptional four-course meal in an immersive, uniquely designed environment, it’s an evening not to be missed.

Friday, November 1
The Kent, 534 Cambie Street
$395 per guest

[Purchase tickets](https://contemporaryartgallery.app.neoncrm.com/eventReg.jsp?event=2& "button")

Proceeds support CAG’s artistic and educational programming, which the gallery has been committed to offering free of charge for more than fifty years.

Can’t join us for the gala, but want to support CAG?

[Make a donation](https://contemporaryartgallery.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/contemporaryartgallery/donation.jsp?campaign=209& "button")

For sponsorship or ticket inquiries, please contact support@cagvancouver.org.

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CAG Gala

Jake Kimble

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In November, we welcome Jake Kimble to speak on the work of Kablusiak.

### Accessibility
ASL interpretation is available on request. Requests can be accommodated up to 5 days in advance. Please contact [learning@cagvancouver.org](mailto:learning@cagvancouver.org) to book or for more information.

### RSVP
No advance registration required.

### Biography
Jake Kimble is a multidisciplinary Chipewyan (Dënesųłıné) artist from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories, whose practice revolves around acts of self-care, self-repair and gender-based ideological refusal. Utilizing the camera to reclaim agency, Kimble asserts the importance of being able to tell one’s stories through and through. Kimble belongs to the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation and currently works on the stolen territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Most recently he attained a BFA in Photography from Emily Carr University of Art + Design while also holding a Degree in Acting from Vancouver Film School. Using the funny bone as a tool, Kimble excavates themes of existentialism, narcissism and the strange, offering an invitation to the audience to examine the absurdities that exist within the everyday so that they too may exhale, unclench and even chuckle in the spaces where laughter is often lost.

Closed for installation

Exhibitions

Talks & Events