Paintings from Alert Bay, 1958-60

PRESS RELEASE

Ceremonial/Art is thrilled to present it’s second solo exhibition of gouache on paper works by Chief U’dziztalis (Henry Speck) from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

When Chief U’dziztalis (Henry Speck) made paintings, he broke many of the design rules of Northwest Coast art for the first time, influencing many generations of artists to come. When he drew hair onto the surface, he went over the form line, making a stylized two-dimensional image into a pictorially three-dimensional one.

Chief U’dziztalis (Henry Speck’s) paintings went outside his cultural practices, not only in that they had no ceremonial function, but as he broke away from the strict design code used by artists in the North West Coast tradition. When he drew hair onto the surface, he went over the form line, making a stylized two-dimensional image into a pictorially three-dimensional one. This aspect of pushing the boundaries and incorporating unconventional use of colour, naturalistic rendering of texture was considered taboo within his culture.

His untrained, idiosyncratic practice was estranged from his own culture and was alien to the prevailing dominant culture. However, his modernist aesthetics and abstracted Kwakwaka’wakw cosmology infused in his work influenced many generations of artists to come.