H&R 28" Museum Caribou and Hawk by World Famous Paul Malliki

Inuit art: Caribou and Hawk
Inuit Artist: Paul Malliki 
Size: 28" high, 23" wide, 10" deep, 68 lbs
Community: Repulse Bay, NU
Stone: Lime stone, Real set of Caribou Antlers
id: caps-847000262ahjjjjy

** This item is Eligible for Layaway Plan

Note** The nicest piece the gallery has ever had.

Rarely in life do you encounter “sheer genius”.

When it happens, you often have a purely visceral response. It could be an involuntary deep breath or a quickening of your pulse.

When I first laid eyes on Malliki’s caribou/hawk transformation,

I held my breath and just stared.... and stared. I walked all around it..... memorizing every detail and still I was in complete awe.

Even now when I can see it in the gallery, I am hypnotized simply by its presence.

I believe that this Paul Malliki caribou/hawk transformation is his “magnum opus”. His crowning achievement.

It is the pinnacle art piece for our gallery.

Look at the facial features of each creature.

Each face is so perfect in its representation, that the animals are essentially alive. You see them breathe. The eyes blink and follow your movements.

The hawk is about to turn its head toward you as it strikes with its razor sharp beak..... because YOU are its prey.

The black matte stone sanctions the transition between the caribou and the hawk. The two meld together to become one BUT still you see two separate entities. Is it even possible for a mammal and a bird to share such intimacy?

To transform from one into the other? The blackness also focuses our attention on the eyes, beak and antlers. The caribou’s magnificent antlers are real caribou. The caribou holds his head in regal fashion.

As King, it is his duty and privilege to carry this cumbersome adornment. He extends his antlers to the hawk gently sheltering the warrior bird’s back. This gesture from caribou to hawk symbolizes their noble union. They are better together than they are apart.

I always expect the best from Paul Malliki. With this piece of art, he has superseded all my expectations! In years to come, this piece will be seen to have elevated the reputation of Inuit sculpture in the world.

PROUDLY CANADIAN SINCE 2008

Paul Malliki (1956-)

Paul Malliki has had many prestigious commissions, including presentation gifts to Prime Ministers Brian Mulrony and Jean Chrétien, and to the Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. In 2000, he was also commissioned to produce a carving of a ptarmigan for the Official Symbols Project for the Legislative building in Iqaluit, and in 1999, he was 1 of 6 artists who made the Nunavut Mace.

Paul Malliki is known as the absolute premier Inuit and Canadian artist today and is insurmountably famous for his masterpiece realistic bears. He was born in 1956 in an outpost camp near the community of Igloolik. When he was ten, his family moved to Naujaat to be with his grandmother. Paul still lives there with his wife and 7 children.

Paul carved his first piece when he was 5 years old. He learned by himself and by watching other people. “Mostly from myself. I’ve learned most things by hunting. By seeing what’s around me. When I hunt animals, I study them. All the animals that are around us.”

“People always want my work. My father would be away for days hunting, trapping foxes. If I didn’t go with him I would carve to support the family, if I wasn’t out hunting myself, in the dead of winter”

Paul carves many different kinds of animals and faces, but has most fun with caribous. His work can be found in many private and public collections and is in demand at galleries across North America. He was invited to participate in the sculpting symposium- Stories in Stone, and has been repeatedly invited to attend the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Associations annual Arts Festival.

When he is not carving, Paul enjoys working with his dog team, hunting, and building. “Just about everything. I like my life.”