Floyd Kuptana

Kuptana was born in a settlement near the former Distant Early Warning Line station at Cape Parry, Northwest Territories, Canada and later moved with his family to nearby Paulatuk. He began his career by helping cousins Francis and Abraham Anghik Ruben[5] to sand and polish their carvings, later working with sculptor and painter Bill Nasogaluak and as an apprentice to David Ruben Piqtoukun, older brother of Abraham and Francis. He has produced his own work since leaving the apprenticeship in 1992, and now resides in Toronto. He is brother to carver Robert Kuptana.[6]

Floyd Kuptana's sculptures of soapstone and other stone often feature shapes of both animal and human. Frequent imagery of transformation may be considered grotesque and include works of Sedna the Inuit goddess of the sea and marine animals. His work relates both to the Inuit shamanic beliefs and his own experiences.

After coming in contact in the late 2000s with Gallery Arcturus, a public art museum and education centre in Toronto,[7] Kuptana began working with paint, depicting animals in bright colours on found materials such as wood and later on art board and canvas. Some of Kuptana's pieces enter the market via commercial galleries including a leading source of First Nations artwork in Toronto, Bay of Spirits[8]. Most have been sold by the artist himself for private collections in Canada, the United States and other countries.

The piece known as "Self-portrait by Floyd Kuptana" was acquired in 2007 by Library and Archives Canada[9] and appeared in a 2018 joint exhibit at the Glenbow art and history museum in Calgary.

Several works by Kuptana are in the permanent collection of Toronto contemporary art museum Gallery Arcturus.[10] In 2018, an exhibit space on the gallery's second floor[11] was created to showcase the artist's work in various media, as well as pieces created in collaboration with other artists.

• "The Artist's Mirror: Self Portraits"[12] at the Glenbow, 10 March 2018 – 6 January 2019[13]
• "Sedna lamenting the loss of sea ice" at "Linked"[14] at the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco, 29 November 2015 - 29 February 2016
• "Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3"[15] travelling exhibit of The Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, 26 June - 21 October 2012[16]
• "Floyd Kuptana ... sculpted from stone and spirit"[17] at Gallery Arcturus, Toronto, 27 September - 12 November 2011
• "In the Shadow of the Midnight Sun"[18] at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 23 May – 17 August 2008
• "Inuit Sculpture Now"[19] at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 30 June - 18 November 2007

• Timeline of Kuptana's sculptures from 1999 to 2002 from The Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art (CCCA) at Concordia_University
• "Reinventing Myths" Inuit Art Quarterly 23.1, Spring 2008 pps. 18-26
• "Art in Review: Changing Hands" The Santa Fe New Mexican, September 6, 2013.
• "Inuit Art" The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Review of two-dimensional works Inuit Art Quarterly 30.4, Winter 2017

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inuit Art.

• Select work at Gallery Arcturus, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Videos of artist
• Images of work at photographic website dragonwhistle.ca
• Galerie d'Art Vincent, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada