Quick Pick - Josh Kakegamic at Mayberry in Winnipeg

×

Expand

Josh Kakegamic, “Sacred Loon,” circa 1974, acrylic on paper, 21" x 29" (courtesy of Mayberry Fine Art)

Mayberry Fine Art is holding an exhibition and sale of 53 paintings by the late artist Joshim (Josh) Kakegamic from the estate of Winnipeg’s Jerry Litman.

The exhibition, Joshim Kakegamic: The Litman Collection, is being held at Mayberry’s Exchange District gallery in Winnipeg through Dec. 21.

Litman, a dentist who worked in Kenora, Ont., collected the works during the 1970s through to the early 1980s while working in the region. He became a friend and patron of Kakegamic, who was one of the Woodlands artists inspired by Norval Morrisseau. 

Born in 1952 in Sandy Lake, Ont., Kakegamic took part in a workshop conducted by Morrisseau in Sandy Lake; the workshop would turn out to be transformative in Kakegamic’s life. 

“Kakegamic was both a talented and prolific artist, creating a compelling body of work that was uniquely stylized in the midst of what had become a modern Indigenous art movement,” according to the Mayberry team. 

“As a pioneering member of this movement, he quickly developed his own sense of identity within his beautiful, smooth line drawings that became the foundation of his paintings.”

Kakegamic and his two brothers, Goyce and Henry, started Triple K Co-operative, a silkscreening studio in Red Lake, Ont. in 1973. “It operated for 10 years, producing high quality, limited-edition prints of the brothers’ own works and of those by other Woodlands artists,” according to the news release.

“In 1977, the Royal Ontario Museum mounted “Silkscreens of Famous Native Artists from Northern Ontario” to showcase silkscreens from Triple K Co-operative.’”

Kakegamic died in 1993 trying to rescue snowmobilers stranded on Nikip Lake, Ont. His paintings are in public and private collections including the Royal Ontario Museum, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the National Gallery of Canada. ■

Joshim Kakegamic: The Litman Collection is on view at Mayberry’s Exchange District gallery in Winnipeg through Dec. 21.

PS: Worried you missed something? See previous Galleries West stories here or sign up for our free biweekly newsletter.