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Bent Box – Red

Barry Herem is of the opinion that Northwest Coast art itself was inspired by the sea.
That goes double for the figure he has rendered in his “Bent Box” and “Waterborne” designs, a universal form that can be seen on the sides of Northwest Coast chests and boxes.

This work depicts the Tlingit creature from legend, Gonakadeit, a creature who lives beneath the sea.  In this work we see him arisen from the water on a still, foggy morning at the head of an inlet. The sight of him is said to bring wealth and good fortune, always the wish of man. He is a sea monster, yes, but also a human being with his upturned hands and typically extreme, downturned face, all of him seeming to drip with the sea.

-In conversation with Barry Herem