Exhibition: Cantchant Vernon Ah Kee

 Hi
 
Today we visited the exhibition held again at Tandanya National Cultural Institute to view works by artists including Vernon Ah Kee and Sistagirls. It was an interesting exhibit of cultural significance, social awareness and traditional lino arts. It was divided into 3 main areas, first being Vernon's perspective of life through the means of surfboards and typographic statements. One of the most interesting statements I noted was "your duty is to accept me, my duty is to tolerate you", which I think sums up the thoughts of a lot of people and shows the hardship between forming relationships with Indigenous Australians, almost as if to say we 'have to' accept them.
As we made our way through the centre, the second area consisted of lino printing from various artists, whose intricate artworks were amazing. The detail that had been put into the prints i.e decorative elements was what made the works stand out. Most of the prints were focused on the lands and animals that occupy the artists communities, some with strong influences of the marine life.
The last part of the exhibition was the photographic images of Bindi Cole, highlighting the way trans gender Indigenous people in the Tiwi Islands are outcast from the community. During the times of Catholicism, the term used for trans gender people 'Yimpininn' was phased out and the Indigenous peoples attitudes became those like the Western society, showing no sympathy towards these people.
Bindi's pictures range in stylization and some are more successful than others. Below is an image titled 'Jemima', who is traditionally dressed with natural surroundings, I think some of the other photos tried to over stylize the subject.
Overall, this exhibition was interesting and insightful towards the beliefs and attitudes of the Indigenous communities.

b.mac

Artist: Richard Bell

Compared to all the other artists that we have been looking at over the last 10 weeks, Richard Bell seems to stand out, for the apparent reason, his politics behind his work. His attitude towards the Indigenous arts community is far less contained as he expressed his thoughts through image and type. Even though his messages are not completely his own issues, he uses those issues from earlier days to confront the current society to how the Indigenous communities of Australia were treated.
Back to his early days, Richard was born in 1953 in Charleville, south west Queensland and was a member of the Campfire group of artists based in Brisbane. Emerging from this artist group, Richard began to merge from the traditional Indigenous art style and focus on the ways he could express his feelings through different mediums. The images below are examples of his works and the rich colours on canvas he uses as well as textured and 'gritty' feelings to relate to the text. Not being an artist myself, I would consider his work modern / stylistic and abstract compared to traditional Indigenous art. I think that Richard gives the Aboriginal art world a voice to say that it's not just dot paintings or paintings of the land, confronting the viewer to broaden their perspective of the history and culture of Indigenous Australians.

b.mac

Artist: Philip Gudthaykudthay

hi all,

This week I am looking at artist Philip Gudthaykudthay who was born in Ramingining in Arnhem land, Northern Territory and is a renowned artist who works with mediums such as bark paintings, ochers on bark, carved and painted hollow log coffin, dupun and carving. He began painting during the 1960's and continues to produce artworks and was in Rolph De Heer's 2006 film, Ten Canoes. His success as a painter led him to become the first artist of Ramingining to host his own solo exhibition. Personally, out of all the other artists I have looked at so far, I find Philip's paintings the most unique / abstract styles as they use uneven shapes, limited colour pallets which are more traditional ocher mixes and the texture used in the backgrounds is made up of tiny shapes which don not distract the viewer too much from the focal feature. The link below is an article about Gudthaykudthay and the uprising of his work which gives a brief analysis of his works over time. 


article

http://www.bandigan.com/stockroom/Philip%20Gudthaykudthay/index.html


b.mac

Artist: Paddy Japaljarri Sims

hey,

Paddy is a Warlpiri speaker who was born circa 1917 at Kunajarrayi, west of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. He is one of the most influential artists of this region as he and others established the fine arts within the community. Paddy has worked consistently on canvas for the last 25 years and along with other artists in the area, has collaborated numerous times to produce paintings depicting their land which has been privately and publicly displayed. His artwork is rich in style as he uses repetition of shapes, though placed asymmetrically around the canvas which creates the feeling of a natural flow and as seen in these two examples, uses a wide range of colour pallets to create the overall theme and mood to the painting. From a design perspective, the placement of the icons seems to be to harmonious and in come cases symmetrical, though it the expressions through his painting of his land that makes these paintings different from others.

b.mac

http://www.aboriginalartonline.com/art/yuendumu.php

Sculpturer: Ken Thaiday

Ken Thaiday was born on Erub Island in 1950,  where he spent alot of his childhood around his father fishing on Darnley Island. Ken recalls fishing as the only thing they did on the small island as it was a part of their culture and skill. His passion for making his works comes from the love of fishing and the various types of fish he catches. The materials he uses in his works were skills that Ken's father taught him and it is evident in his sculptures and the attention to detail is amazing.  The image below is a headdress, which hence the name is a sculpture worn on top of the head during ceremonies and special occasions (dances). The shark is Ken's key totemic animal and in his culture certain sharks are associated with law and order, so respect forms part of the inspiration for his headdresses.

b.mac

Torres Strait Islands

me again,

Just been looking at some artists from the Torres Strait Islands region online and found some interesting artists/ sculptures. In particular I found works by Ken Thaiday whose work is made from various materials. From looking at the work from the Managerie exhibition, it is similar and uses intricate elements to create abstract representations of animals. Overall I find that the Torres Strait Islands arts are much more detailed and use commonly 2 colours and show the whole figure of the animals they are drawing. Below are some paintings by recent artists which show the attention to detail on the linen artworks.

b.mac

http://www.aboriginalartprints.com.au/regions_details.php?region_id=9

Artist: Eubena Nampitjin

hello,

This week I am looking at Eubena (Yupinya) Nampitjin, who is a well known painter in the Kimberly region, Western Australia. Born in the 1920's at Tjinjadpa, she speaks Wangkajungka and Kukatja languages and is one of the most esteemed law women in her community. She is known greatly to being one of the best artists of Balgo and with intricate complexity along with a love of the warm reds, oranges and yellows, these are said to be part of Eubena's signature. "Eubena has great spontaneity and strength in her painting, leaving rhythmical tracks across the canvas composed of thick layers of dotted lines."
I find Eubena's work more abstract than traditional Aboriginal artists as there is a feeling of softness to the painting, like shown below. Her paintings are vibrant and use free flowing shapes/lines to represent the land she paints.

b.mac