Primitivism Revisited

The rendering by Luke Anguhadluq that began this discussion leads to some interesting observations.  The view that he actually saw on the hunt would have looked more like the first rendering below.  But all that overlap creates a very muddy composition in which we cannot satisfactorily see what each figure is doing.  If Anguhadluq's priority was the clear narrative value of this rendering, his perspective solution is indeed the more successful.

The degree of separation in the ground lines of each kayak is consistent a very high point of view. Created in an area of the world that is mostly flat glacial till and delta deposits with no significant rocks or cliffs, 1000 miles from trees of any height, this drawing then begs the question: How did he get up there to see this view?  The answer of course is: He didn't.

Unsatisfied with the actual view, Anguhadluq invented a point of view well above anything that was humanly possible, but a view that allowed him to more clearly represent the events of the hunt.  The drawing may be classed as 'primitive' because Anguhadluq is unschooled in a classical sense, but this is not a primitive idea being expressed.  Conceptually, Luke Anguhadluq's drawing is as sophisticated as anything that exists in art.

Two very complex intellectual exercises play against one another.  First, the artist has fabricated a viewpoint for us, one that he thinks will be better than reality.  Second, we have enough belief in the Perspective he has created to imagine ourselves at his viewpoint.  This is what happens in all art; the artist creates an artifical construct, an illusion.  And the observer engages with that illusion to create meaning.

Leonardo called it a 'Gateway to Knowledge' because it is through accurate representations that we can understand the world we see.   But Luke Anguhadluq shows us this is only part of the story.  Perspective is also a way to communicate a world that we cannot see, or that maybe we should see.  For Architects, Engineers, Designers, and Inventors of all sorts, Perspective can more properly be described as a Gateway to Progress.