David Ruben Piqtoukun is an Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 artist from Paulatuk, Northwest Territories

Paulatuk, Northwest Territories

Paulatuk is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located adjacent to Darnley Bay, in the Amundsen Gulf...

. His output includes sculpture and prints; the sculptural work is innovative in its use of mixed media. His materials and imagery bring together modern and traditional Inuit stylistic elements in a personal vision. An example of this is his work "The Passage of Time" (1999), which portrays a shaman in the form of a salmon moving through a hole in a hand. While shamanic imagery is common in much of Inuit art

Inuit art

Inuit art refers to artwork produced by Inuit people, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is now often considered offensive outside Alaska...

, the hand in this work is sheet metal, not a traditional material such as walrus ivory

Walrus ivory

Walrus tusk ivory comes from two modified upper canines. The tusks of a Pacific walrus may attain a length of one meter. Walrus teeth are also commercially carved and traded. The average walrus tooth has a rounded, irregular peg shape and is approximately 5cm in length.The tip of a walrus tusk has...

, caribou antler

Reindeer hunting in Greenland

Reindeer hunting in Greenland is of great importance to the Kalaallit and sporting hunters, both residents and tourists. Reindeer are an important source of meat, and harvesting them has always played an important role in the history, culture, and traditions of the Greenland Inuit...

 or soapstone

Soapstone

Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...

. Ruben's brother, Abraham Apakark Anghik Ruben, is also a sculptor. Fellow Inuit artist Floyd Kuptana

Floyd Kuptana

Floyd Kuptana is an Inuit sculptor born in the former settlement at Cape Parry and moved to nearby Paulatuk, Northwest Territories, Canada. He began his career as an apprentice to fellow sculptor David Ruben Piqtoukun. He has produced his own work since leaving the apprenticeship in 1992, and now...

learned sculpting techniques as an apprentice to David Ruben.