Aboriginal Masterpieces

In June 2008, Webb's presented a survey exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal painting in association with Dick Bett Gallery, Hobart. The exhibition included an outstanding collection of museum quality paintings from the Central and Western Desert region of Australia. Artists represented included: Abie Loy Kemarre, Gloria Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre, Angelina Pwerle, Minnie Pwerle, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri, Peggy Napangardi Jones, Judy Watson. more ...

Abie Loy Kemarre
Abie Loy began painting in 1994 under the tutelage of her famous grandmother, Kathleen Petyarre. Abie Loy has custodial rights of the Bush Hen Dreaming which she depicts as a metonymic device in her Bush Hen Dreaming and associated Sand-hills and Body painting series of works. Through her powerful and beautiful paintings, Abie Loy is able to convey to the viewer the sensitivity and strength she derives from her Dreaming… and her country.

Gloria Petyarre
She continues to develop her paintings to higher levels of abstraction, continually experimenting with line and color. She says she prefers the greater freedom and control she finds with the medium of acrylic on canvas. Several of her works now have no dots at all, but bands of different color whose optical effects have evoked comparison to the British artist Bridget Riley.

Kathleen Petyarre
One definitive highlight and specialty of her present work rests in her ability to contour and form her dreaming paintings attuning this to her symbolism and ceremony. Moreover, Kathleen has the innate capacity to meld together the earthy and timeless perceptions associated with her culture. This interaction is seen and felt through the rigorous high quality standard of work she sets for herself. The end result to this mastery is a transmutation of visual feeling onto her paintings.

Angelina Pwerle
Pwerle’s main title is Bush Plum Dreaming where clusters of tiny dots are arranged on the surface in an array of bold colours, creating a sense of vibrant energy and movement which captures the viewer. With this series of paintings Angelina Pwerle has found national and international prominence.

Minnie Pwerle
Minnie’s more recent works have drawn comparisons to Emily Knwarreye’s "Wild Yam Stories" painted in the mid 1990’s. Eclectic in nature, her work seems to combine modernism, contemporary theory, impressionism and Aboriginality while also expressing a story of her own sacred dreamings. Her combination of historical visual styles and spiritual content promote a sense of unity amongst two vary different spheres of influence.

Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Although her works relate to the modern art tradition, this resemblance is purely visual. The emphasis on Emily's paintings is on the spiritual meaning, based in the tradition of her people. At first she painted aspects of her culture that is sacred, falling foul of the tribal elders. That is when she moved into painting her culture as a whole. Though many aboriginal paintings are focused on Dreamings, Emily chose to present a very broad picture of the land and how it supports their way of life. These images embrace the whole life story of myth, seeds, flowers, wind, sand and 'everything'."Whole lot, that's the whole lot. Awelye (my Dreamings), Alatyeye (pencil yam), Arkerrthe (mountain devil lizard), Ntange (grass seed), Tingu (a Dreamtime pup), Ankerre (emu), Intekwe (a favourite food of emus, a small plant), atnwerle (green bean), and Kame (yam seed). That's what I paint; the whole lot." The form that these take in her paintings are lively and moving. Colours merge and change form to communicate a strong cosmological message. She has gone from particular subjects to show abstraction of her complete world moving her beyond her cultural roots. Emily Kame Kngwarreye was the first outstanding artist from Utopia gaining international success with her richly layered brushstrokes and abstract compositions. Emily paved the way for the contemporary Utopian art movement and today the work produced continues to be distinctive with its fine dotting work.

Ngoia Pollard Napaltjarri
Painting her father's country, sacred Warlpiri territory associated with narratives relating to the Watersnake. The oval shapes in Ngoia's paintings are iconographic representations of the swamps and lakes near Nyrripi (Talarada) north west of Mt. Liebig. Ngoia depicts the wet and dry characteristics of this country. This region is charged with the spiritual presence of the Watersnake which lives beneath the surface.

Peggy Napangardi Jones
Walala TjapaltjarriHe paints parts of the Tingari Cycle associated with his sacred sites - including Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, which are important rockholes, sandhills, sacred mountains and water soakages within the Gibson Desert.
Walala Tjapaltjarri was first introduced to painting by his brother Warlimpirrnga,
also a painter of international acclaim. Walala's first paintings were in the
classical Tingari style, a series of sacred and secret mythological songs which
is associated with his Dreaming sites . In 1996 he developed his own style of
work. He began abstracting the classical Pintupi designs, creating a highly
graphic language to speak of his country and ceremonial sites. The rectangles
so prominent in his paintings form both a physical and spiritual map.

His style is strongly gestural and boldly graphic, one that is generally
highlighted by a series of rectangles set against a monochrome background.
He paints the Tingari Cycle a series of sacred and secret mythological song
cycles which are associated with the artist's many dreaming sites - they
are Wilkinkarra, Maruwa, Tarrku, Njami and Yarrawangu, to name a few. These
Dreamings are the locations of significant rockholes, sandhills, sacred
mountains and water soakages in the Gibson Desert. In the recent years Walala has been painting, he has gained worldwide recognition.

Judy Watson
'Watson's imagery is visually complex, with a rich use of natural pigments and earthy colours, and the weaving of multiple readings and layers of subtlety, meaning and memory ... Watson's exhibitions resonate with the power of the collective voice and history of Aboriginal people's strengths in the face of adversity ... [her] journey of discovery and spiritual enrichment is part of a never-ending continuum.' (Tjalaminu Mia & Sally Morgan, Art & Australia, 2004) ---- 'Watson says: "When you walk in that country the earth is beating pulsating heart, blood, heart - things are hidden like the bones of the people who have been there before, you are walking on their footprints."' (Judy Watson, Courier Mail, 2004)