The Paintings of Martin Berkovitz - The North series is expressive of the great spirit of the Canadian polar world.
North
On a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum during the 70’s, I discovered a tiny mask belonging to the ancient Thule culture from Canada’s far north. This miniscule object going back a thousand years possessed tremendous power and mystery, and was for me a potent expression of that culture. By the late 70’s, I was working on a series of pictures inspired by this object. In fact, I used the mask in a painting called “Great Spirit of the Arctic”.
Thirty years later I had an unusual dream. I was standing on a quay overlooking an ice-clogged channel between two factory buildings that had been part of the turn of the century whaling industry. As the channel flowed into the open sea, I saw a sailing boat with a Shaman at the rudder. The whole scene was strange and wonderful. Back in the 70’s, while painting the initial “Northern” works, an enigmatic title had come to me, “Above or Near Pangnirtung.” At that time I could never come up with a painting that was right for this title. Now with the dream, it was clear I finally had the right image. When I again took up the Northern theme, it was this picture that re-opened the vast dazzling mystery of the Arctic. What was begun three decades ago resulted in a new body of work, I simply called, “North.”
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