Abraham Anghik Ruben: A Retrospective

Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq

Abraham Anghik Ruben, Danish Shaman: Through the Mist of Time (detail), 2013, Brazilian Soapstone, KG0276. Kipling Gallery.

Abraham Anghik Ruben: A Retrospective

May 24, 2025 – Spring 2026
Opening Celebration: Friday, May 23, 7pm | Free
Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq
www.wag.ca/exhibitions/ruben

Abraham Anghik Ruben is one of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary artists. From the Louvre in Paris to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, Abraham Anghik Ruben has been featured in exhibitions around the globe. The master sculptor received the Order of Canada in 2016 for his contribution to the art world, and for preserving his Inuvialuit culture.

Anghik Ruben’s first solo show in a museum was presented by the WAG in 2001. Now, almost 25 years later, the artist returns, but this time to Qaumajuq, Canada’s Inuit art centre. Abraham Anghik Ruben will be the first solo show in Qaumajuq’s flagship Qilak gallery, the largest exhibition space dedicated to Inuit art in the world.

Currently based in Salt Spring Island, BC, Anghik Ruben’s art can be found in many prominent public, corporate, and private collections with more than 30 pieces in the WAG-Qaumajuq collection, including the monumental outdoor sculpture Time to Play that welcomes visitors to the Gallery.

Presented by the Richardson Foundation with support from the WAG Foundation and Kipling Gallery, the exhibition features over 100 artworks including sculptures and paintings produced from 1975 to 2025 and brings into focus important milestones in Anghik Ruben’s life. This personal perspective is different from his past shows around the globe, and shares what was happening in the artist’s world when he was making his extraordinary pieces. Additionally, this show explores Inuit myth and legends, as well as Nordic peoples and history in particular Inuit and Viking contact.

“This exhibition will follow Abraham Anghik Ruben’s journey from reclaiming Inuit culture, to being comfortable as an individual with broad interests, and finally being celebrated as an artist worthy of representing humanity as a whole.” – Heather Campbell, Guest Curator

Abraham Anghik Ruben. Odin, 2008, Bronze, 56 x 38 x 18 cm. Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Gift of the Eric Sprott Family.

Opening Celebration
Friday, May 23, 2025, 7pm CT
Free

Join us for an unforgettable evening celebrating the extraordinary work of acclaimed Canadian artist Abraham Anghik Ruben. Organized and presented by WAG-Qaumajuq with the support of Richardson Foundation, WAG Foundation, and the Kipling Gallery, this landmark exhibition reveals a unique take and fresh perspective on the artist’s life and work.

Be among the first to explore a sweeping collection of works by visionary artist Abraham Anghik Ruben. This marks the first solo show in Qaumajuq’s flagship Qilak gallery, the largest exhibition space dedicated to Inuit art in the world. Take in the art while enjoying the cash bar and a solo violin performance by WSO Concert Master Karl Stobbe, playing live in the show. Plus, hear remarks from the guest curator, Heather Campbell, the artist himself, Abraham Anghik Ruben, and more special guests.

Abraham Anghik Ruben, Memories: An Ancient Past, 2010, whalebone, Brazilian soapstone, British Colombian cedar, on loan to the Winnipeg Art Gallery 3188.001.

About the Artist

Powerful, compelling, exquisite are but a few of the words to describe the work of master sculptor Abraham Anghik Ruben. Stories, myths, and legends of ancient Northern cultures find new life and expression through his work. Linked by strong narratives, his sculptures speak of cultures lost and times forgotten.

Born in 1951, Anghik Ruben’s early life was spent in a nomadic lifestyle, with the daily pursuit of food and shelter, a never-ending cycle. These early years gave him the foundation of family, cultural, and spiritual ties to the Inuit way of life. This family-oriented life was severed at the age of eight when Anghik Ruben was sent to residential school. After eleven years of school, he left having lost his culture, community connection, and language.

Anghik Ruben’s quest to reconnect with his past found artistic form in 1971 when he attended the Native Arts Centre at the University of Alaska, studying under Ronald Senungetuk. Throughout the 1970s Anghik Ruben pursued the arts in the varied media of sculpture, jewelry, prints, and drawings, eventually catching the attention of art dealers across Canada.

In 1986 he moved to Salt Spring Island, BC where he continues to live and work with his family. His interest in the stories, myths, and legends of his ancestors are in many of his works, which have been exhibited and collected internationally. In recent years Anghik Ruben has started to explore other cultures and peoples, including Nordic culture. His interest in the parallel cultures of Viking Norse and Inuit have resulted in some of his most powerful works yet.

About Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq

WAG-Qaumajuq features an impressive collection of over 27,000 artworks spanning centuries, cultures, and media, including the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. Each piece has its own story to tell. Sharing these stories with the world is at the core of WAG-Qaumajuq. This is an engaging, accessible space where visitors can experience art and learning in new ways.

WAG-Qaumajuq recognizes that land acknowledgements are part of an ongoing dialogue with Indigenous Nations, and we are grateful to live and work on these lands and waters. Institutionally, WAG-Qaumajuq is committed to acknowledging our colonial history and we are actively working to interrogate the Gallery’s colonial ways of being.

Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq
300 Memorial Boulevard
Winnipeg, MB R3C 1V1
www.wag.ca
publicrelations@wag.ca
204-786-6641

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Accessibility:
WAG-Qaumajuq is fully accessible. For more information, visit here.

Lead Supporter: Richardson Foundation, Presented By: The WAG Foundation, Supported By: Kipling Gallery. Made possible with donations from The Dorothy Strelsin Fund, The Reading Family, Anonymous, Park Place Limited, and Ann and Michael Lesk.