| Traditionally,
aboriginal art was to be used only by those who
had the knowledge and right to do so. The essential
character of the art is spiritual and symbolic,
maps of mythical relationships between different
features of the landscape inspired by the symbols
of the Dreaming. More recently, the art has become
commercial and some of the art has social and
political overtones. Prior to the early 1970's,
Aboriginal artists painted complex ritual symbols
with traditional materials (e.g., ochre; rock,
bark, ground, shield, and body paintings; ceremonial
objects). Today, bark
paintings are made in the Kimberley, Tiwi,
and Arnhem Land and stylistically relate to the
rock art (the Kimberley and western Arnhem Land)
or body painting and ceremonial objects (Central
Australian and eastern Arnhem Land). The cross-hatching
or rarrk in these paintings give luminosity or
shimmer that projects ancestral power. Albert
Namatjira (1902-1959) is the best known of
all Aboriginal artists for he began the contemporary
art movement with his western-style watercolor
paintings. Namatjira
painted with a new perspective quite different
from the traditional art of his people. He painted
his country, the lands of his father, mother,
and ancestors. In the first image, you see how
he captured the light and colors of the western
MacDonnell Range, central Australia. In 1971-72,
Papunya
west of Alice Spring became the birthplace of
a new Aboriginal art movement under the tutelage
of Geoffrey Bardon (1940-2003), who encouraged
senior men (Billy
Stockman Tjapaltjarri, Kaapa Tjampitjinpa,
Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra) to paint the story
of the honey ant using western art materials.
Clifford
Possum Tjapaltjarri (c.1932-2002) and other
Papunya Tula artists painted dreaming narratives and
places in acrylic on canvas using traditional
symbols from ceremonial sand and body painting.
In the 1980's, the Western Desert movement flourished
and other desert communities including Utopia,
Yuendumu and Balgo began to produce works. Emily
Kame Kngwarreye (c.1910-1996) from Utopia,
Northern Territory did not use symbols but rather
marks and colors giving a shimmer to her paintings
that expressed ancestral power in the landscape.
Rover
Thomas (c.1926-1998) made use of huge blocks
of color and blackness. His paintings "Ruby
Plains Killing 1 & 2" (1990) deal with
the killings of Aborigines by white cattle owners
in the early 20th century and are considered Australia's
"Guernica". More information on contemporary Aboriginal art can be found at AboriginalArtShop.com, Aboriginal Art Directory, Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Aboriginal
Art Online, Aboriginal Fine Arts Gallery, Agathon Galleries, Art
Gallery of NSW, Art
Gallery of South Australia, Art
Gallery of Western Australia, Australian Aboriginal Art, Australian Aboriginal Fine Art Gallery, Berndt
Museum, Can You Tell What It's Worth Yet?, Jinta Art Gallery, Kluge-Ruhe,
Museum
Victoria, National
Gallery of Art, National
Gallery of Victoria, Queensland
Art Gallery, and Songlines. |
