Painterly portraits of Iqaluit’s stark charms

François Ouellette, showcasing his collection “Lessons from the Town and Tundra – Zen and the Art of Life in Iqaluit.”

Sometimes less is more.

Most of the paintings at Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum’s newest exhibition are studies in artistic brevity, with more space left blank than filled with ink or watercolour.

But for an artist interested in the Arctic landscapes in and around Iqaluit, white will never be more appropriate.

François Ouellette has lived two years in Iqaluit, fascinated by the shapes of the land, the city, the wildlife and the people.

Iqaluit’s museum is providing the venue of Ouellette’s exhibition with the art that has come out of Oulette’s time in the Arctic, filtered through the absurdly skewed lens of a Zen philosopher.

“Lessons from the Town and Tundra – Zen and the Art of Life in Iqaluit” is the name of Ouellette’s collection.

“All around us, we are in the midst of life and the consequences of life: government buildings, black birds with flying garbage, empty Coca-cola bottles, telecommunication satellites, frozen seal carcasses, English-Inuktitut signage…

“And through it all is the tundra, masked, hidden, but right there, under the houses on their stilts, deep in the emptiness of ravens’ bellies, wrapped up in the cold wind that blows through the streets. This, of course, is deep and profound life,” reads his artist’s statement.

Ouellette considers his work to be “artistic meditation,” interpreting what he sees in daily life with the wry sense of humour that colours all his work.

Each illustration is accompanied by a short koan, a Zen riddle designed to help clear the mind and thus achieve enlightenment.

For example, an image of the street sign of the Road to Nowhere is entitled, “Right here, enlightenment.”

Two ravens depicted atop a pair of adjacent telephone poles are entitled, “Ravens in a two-way conversation.”

Visually, Ouellette’s style is heavily influenced by the minimalist artistic style of Japan, where the Zen school of Buddhism began.

Ravens are a frequent focus of Ouelette’s work, drawn as angular silhouettes of black ink.

Much of Ouellette’s inspirations comes from his frequent jogging trips around the city’s streets and back-trails.

Some images he creates from memory and others with the aid of the camera he sometimes carries.

While blank white may be images of Iqaluit’s long winter, the rusty colours of the naked tundra require more specialized material.

Ouellette uses coffee — properly aged a week or so — for the pale brown of Iqaluit’s dusty streets and the land bereft of snow.

Most of the paintings have their koans written on them in English, French or Inuktitut syllabics.

Ouellette is fluent in the former two, and did the Inuktitut as best he could with the help of a dictionary, the Internet, and his next-door neighbour.

The collection was well received, judging by the sales. After only three weeks more than half the artwork had been sold.

But museum curator Brian Lunger said the artist was taking commissions to draw artwork that people liked but had already sold.

“Lessons from the Town and Tundra” is on display until May 9.