Exhibition brochure - Australasian Arts Project

List of Artists for Desert Icons Exhibition 2010
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Angeline Pwerle Ngala
Annie Pitjara Hunter
Audrey Kngwarreye Morton
Betty Club Mbitjana
Caroline Petrick
Casey Holmes
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Dolly Petyarre Mills
Freddy Kngwarreye Jones
Gladdy Kemarre
Gloria Petyarre (Pitjara)
Hazel Kngwarreye Morton
Janice Kngwarreye Morton
Jorna Nelson Napurrula
Josie Petrick Kemarre
Joy Kngwarreye Jones
Julie Pangata
Kathleen Ngala
Kumanjayi (Janelle) Napaltjarri Stockman
Kylie Kemara Clarke
Lesley Petrick
Lily Kelly Napangardi
Lisa Pula Mills
Lucky Kngwarreye Morton
Mary Kemarre Morton
Mitjili Napurrula
Molly Napaltjarri Jugadai
Kumanjayi (Narputta) Nangala
Natalie Pula Holmes
Patrick Bloomfield
Patrick Tjungurrayi
Polly Ngala
Ruby Kngwarreye Morton
Sally Kemara Perkins
Sandy Pitjara Hunter
Susan Pitjara Hunter
Thomas Tjapaltjarri
Walala Tjapaltjarri
Walangkura Napanangka
Wally Pwerle Clark
Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri
303 Tanglin Road, Singapore 247952
DES ERT ICO N S
art and artists
PR ES ENTED BY
WITH THE COLLABORATION AND SUPPORT OF
2 - 16 NOVEMBER 2010
Telephone 97 71 8974
Australasian Arts Projects supports the Indigenous Australian Art Commercial Code of Conduct
Exhibition hours:
Monday –– Saturday
10am –– 3pm or by appointment
303 Tanglin Road, Singapore
About Desert Icons
Australasian Arts Projects … a personal note
Welcome to Australasian Arts Projects’ second event - Desert Icons – an exhibition
of Aboriginal artists from the eastern, central and western deserts of Australia.
It is with great delight that we bring you Desert Icons. In some ways, this exhibition
is a continuation of our first - The Utopia Story - which was held in May this year,
as we have been able to invite back some of the same Utopian artists with their
exciting new works. In many ways, however, Desert Icons is a significant growth
and development as we have included several more artists from the central and
western deserts as well as the eastern Utopian region.
Both the amount of artists, the subject matter covered, and the vast geographic area
being represented, ensures that Desert Icons is delightful and surprising in its breadth
and variety. Please take the time to appreciate this diversity of styles and subject
matter. We are thankful to the Aboriginal people who have brought these paintings
to us for you to enjoy. The panels of information and DVD imagery provide valuable
insight into how these artists came to be here.
We would love you to come back and see the works again over coffee with us.
There are many paintings we have not been able to hang tonight and would be
happy showing these to you privately over the next few weeks.
“For some viewers the story of the work is important;
for others, the visual impact of the painting
predominates. It is this combination of a strong sense
of design, finely honed use of colour or surface
texture, spatial relationships underpinned by an
intangible but ever-present connection with the land,
its creators and their stories, and the artist’s rights to
and interaction with this that gives much Aboriginal
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art its unique quality and power”.
Widely sought after, Australian Aboriginal art has now taken its place in the
collections of museums and galleries worldwide. Its popularity is testament to global
interest in both the ancient traditions it represents, and the newer, contemporary
expression of those traditions. Desert Icons is an exhibition of art from the
geographic area which is iconic in its own right – as it is known as being birthplace
of the modern Aboriginal art movement as we know it today. The renowned art
critic, Robert Hughes, has likened the growth in Aboriginal art to the greatest
aesthetic movement of our time.
Both the artists and the Australasian Arts Projects team thank you for your attendance.
Walangkura Napanangka, My Country, 147 x 61 cm
1 Susan McCulloch, McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art - The Complete Guide, p.13
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DESERT ICONS - art and artists
DESERT ICONS - art and artists
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Thomas, Walala and Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Tingari Cycle, 304 x 183 cm
Football field at Redgum on Macdonald Downs, NT, Central Australia
Whilst a desert in name is arid, vast and harsh, the Australian desert is also a land of
great abundance and variety - and home and inspiration for many ancient Aboriginal
cultures and their artists. At the core of Aboriginal belief systems is the inseparable
nature of the land and its people. Desert Icons celebrates the lives of these desert
peoples, presented to us through the eyes of 40 resident artists.
Geographically, the area represented in Desert Icons is more than a 700 kilometre
radius from Alice Springs. With over 2000 Aboriginal artists living in this area, styles
of art vary widely – from individual to individual, from male to female, from family
to family, and from region to region. The pieces of art being exhibited today are from
the areas of Utopia, Santa Teresa, Kintore, Kiwirrikura, Yuendumu, Haasts Bluff, Mt
Liebig, Marua, Lampintya, and Atnangkere, with artists from 7 language groups –
Alyawarr, Anmatyerre, Warlpiri, Arrernte, Luriitja, Pintupi and Pitjantjatjara.
Our criteria for the selection of works for Desert Icons is
based on each piece being ‘iconic’ in some special way–
whether it be the subject matter, the painting style, the
aesthetic qualities, or the artist him or herself. By this it
means something about that painting has taken on a life of
its own, and a legend has grown – whether this legend exists
within the community from whence it came, or whether it
has meaning in broader communities. Icons are often fondly
recognizable symbols, that act as keys to further knowledge
and appreciation, and in the case of desert art from Aboriginal
Australia, are now known and enjoyed internationally.
Chronologically, the subject matter of Desert Icons is broad
– running from the ancient times of the creation ancestor,
Tingari, and finishing at legendary modern day desert pastimes
such as cattle station life and Australian Rules football.
Wally Clark, Hawthorn
Football Player
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DESERT ICONS - art and artists
Yarding cattle at Macdonald Downs, NT, central Australia
DESERT ICONS - art and artists
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Tower Rock, Conservation Park, Macdonald Downs, NT, central Australia
Petrick family - three generations
Stylistically, therefore we have extraordinary variety, from the iconic ‘dot’ paintings
of many desert works such as Bush Plum Dreaming representations from Utopia,
to interesting uses of colour and texturing, in several media - acrylic on linen, native
bean tree wood, and recycled products.
There are many celebrated families who have reached iconic status with their art,
and some are represented in Desert Icons. We have the Pwerle Ngala sisters –
Angeline, Kathleen and Polly, the Petyarre sisters Gloria and Dolly, the 3 Tjapaltjarri
brothers, the Pitjara Hunter and Kngwarreye Morton families and Narputta Nangala
and her daughter Molly Napaltjarri Jugadai. We have the confident emerging artist
Natalie Holmes painting the well known and important subject matter of sand
dunes, with her young son Lesley Petrick by her side making toy trucks and hence
representing an integral part of modern day cattle station life.
Kumanjayi (Narputta) Nangala, My Father’s Country, 121 x 61 cm
Betty Club Mbitjana, Awelye & Bush Melon, 178 x 36 cm
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DESERT ICONS - art and artists
DESERT ICONS - art and artists
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Lesley Petrick with toy truck
A special mention is needed for the bush
toys included in Desert Icons – which are
on their first international exhibition. Made
from recycled every day household items,
both children and adults from Utopia have
contributed to this collection, offering a
particularly charming and whimsical insight into
the society of which they are a part. In the case
of youngster Lesley Petrick, his truck is the first
he has made for public display and has covered
much ground on its journey to Singapore.
Having it here brings him immense pride.
“Relieved of the burden of seriousness that is fixed
to the objects known as ‘artefacts’, toys inhabit
a zone where playtime and real time merge. The
bush toys … demonstrate the extent to which an
an ‘Aboriginalised’ country and western culture has
permeated the lives of indigenous people in the
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desert regions”.
Angeline Pwerle Ngala, Aranya - Women Dreaming, 140 x 77 cm
Ant hills, NT, central Australia
Caroline Petrick, Toy Truck, 41 cm l x 17 cm w x 13.5 cm h
2 Hetti Perkins, Curator, Art Gallery of New South Wales.
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DESERT ICONS - art and artists
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About Australasian Arts Projects
Each with two decades of arts management experience, Gabrielle Cummins and
Simone Lourey joined forces in 2010 to create Australasian Arts Projects, a regionally
focused arts production company, to entertain, inform and educate the general
public about art, artists and artistic practice. With Simone’s welcomed arrival of
baby Felix in July of this year, Gabrielle has put together Desert Icons with the
much appreciated efforts of Melanie McCollin-Walker and Monique Morris. The
Australasian Arts Projecs team has an interest in contemporary art and, specifically
related to these last two projects, an awareness of the need to educate people about
the social and political context of the Australian aboriginal art movement.
Plenty River, Macdonald Downs, NT, Australia
Special Thanks
Simone Lourey, Melanie McCollin-Walker, Monique Morris, Brandon Batagol, Zac, Mathilde
and Brigitte Batagol, Sonja Chalmers, Linx Macpherson, Susan McCulloch, Anna Layard,
Wine Guru, Australian High Commission, Louise Conn, Vanessa Clementson, Rosalie Reyes,
June Wong.
Gloria Petyarre, Bush Medicine, 121 x 153 cm
Susan Pitjara Hunter, Body Paint (detail), 184 x 180 cm
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DESERT ICONS - art and artists
DESERT ICONS - art and artists
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