About Above the Beach
The walrus, an impressively large Arctic animal dominates the canvas in this expressive abstract painting by Rick Rivet. The Metis artist has acquired an international reputation for his contemporary artwork which often offers a poetic, spiritual and historically relevant view of indigenous and Western cultures. In this piece, the walrus viewed in Shamanic traditions as a spiritual animal and one central to survival in the north, floats in a deep blue sky. The horizon line is red and symbolizes the current growing threat of pollution; the green landscape that grounds the painting is marked with white lines…journeys (or disastrous policies) that appear to go nowhere. Rivet’s signatory style is accentuated by curated markings and paint drippings.The colour palette is rich and warm--chocolate brown, deep blue, red, and green highlighted by white. Ultimately, the message inherent in this painting is one of hope as implied by the glowing sun in a clear blue Arctic sky. One of a series.“When I was growing up I always saw that animals were no less important than animals in the cosmos. I envisioned them as floating between the landscapes of a physical and a metaphysical or spiritual reality.” Rick Rivet
Richard James Rivet was born in Aklavik in the Northwest Territories to a Metis family. He grew up on the land and his family lived by trapping, hunting and fishing. Rivet has four degrees from three universities. He completed his MFA at the U. of Saskatchewan in 1989 and began creating art full-time. Rivet has been the recipient of more than twenty awards, scholarships and bursaries including a Fellowship from the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis, and the Andy Warhol Foundation Fellowship Residency Program for the Heard Museum in Phoenix. His work is held in private, corporate, and public collections in Canada and the US.
