Wolverine

About Wolverine

This contemporary acrylic painting of a northern animal is by Rick Rivet.

Métis artist, Rick Rivet often paints powerful portraits of animals. His eclectic style is distinctive—a unique blend of dream-like imagery that reflects both his shamanistic heritage and modernist art forms. Rivet counts among his early influences the expressionist work of modernist painters Rauschenberg, Rothko, and Turner. Here, Rivet has painted a portrait of a wolverine staring directly at the viewer, growling. Wolverines are a member of the weasel family known as ferocious, and strong predators. They often appear in indigenous stories that honour the ability of this small animal to survive in harsh northern climates.
Rivet’s masterful use of vivid colours—earthy brown and white for the wolverine plays against a wash of turquoise blues, indigo, rose and green. Markings, and paint drippings add expressive detail and modernize the image.

“I think a lot of my work stems from growing up in the Arctic and growing up on the land, being there right in the landscape all the time, when you’re out playing or just living in a fishing camp or on a trap line.” Rick Rivet

“His work is highly expressive, with mark-making techniques that range from bold slashes to slowly graduated fields of thick colour. Through it all are Rivet’s ruminations on nature, memory, metaphysics and indigenous mythologies.” Portia Priegert

Richard James Rivet was born in Aklavik in the Northwest Territories. 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 exhibited internationally and is held in private, corporate, and public collections in both Canada and the US.