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Lucassie Echalook
2009
Inukjuak Co-operative, Inukjuak, Quebec, Canada

Credits:
Photo: Devora Cascante

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Lucassie Echalook [b. 1942]

"I worry about the future of the carvers and I want everyone to know that the carvers need help. If they stop buying carvings, we will go bankrupt. I would like everyone to know that we need support" (Interview with Inuit Art Foundation staff in Inukjuak in 2009.).

His story
Lucassie Echalook was born in 1942 in a small hunting camp near Inukjuak. He probably began carving in order to help support his family during the difficult years that followed the death of his father in 1950. His work was first shown in Eskimo Sculpture, an exhibition at the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1967. A prolific carver, his work has been exhibited in North America, France, and Korea. It is included in private and public collections throughout Canada.

His art
His sculptures are often carved from a solid mass with few open spaces; his narrative scenes are compact, as if part of a single form. An unusual feature of his sculpture is that he often aligns details, such as hands or faces, along the foreground edge, and his figures' anatomical features are distorted into angular planes that converge abruptly, creating an effect that implies movement. His faces can often be distinguished by their almond-shaped eyes, broad noses, and wide mouths. His sculptures are highly-polished except for their bases. Echalook also made prints, some of which were included in the 1975 Arctic Quebec Print catalogue and the 1976 Inukjuak print collection. Although he favoured hunting scenes, he abandoned this subject when Greenpeace mounted its highly publicized campaign against the killing of seals. Later work includes spirit figures and shamanic transformations. He often works with fellow carver Daniel Inukpuk; they observe the movements and positioning of each other's bodies before starting to carve figures.