Mini Masters
Gallery 2
30 May – 9 July 2014
Many of the great Aboriginal artists of the central and Western deserts are represented by small scale paintings. Given the way that many desert artists create their works, they are working from a single large narrative that has many sections or verses to its structure. The success of these small works is that they distill the elements of the large paintings and give just a taste of the important elements of the drama, without having to sacrifice the meaning of the larger story.
Thomas Tjapaltjarri, one of the last Pintupi nomads to leave the desert, uses images of the Tingari sites, the great sacred locations created on the journeys of the Tingari Ancestors, as interlocking rectangular blocks. The successors of the great Kungka Womens narratives painted by Walangkura, Debra Young Nakamarra and Katherine Marshall Nakamarra, continue to paint the dramatic symbols of rockholes and hills where the Ancestors travelled.
Mitjili Napurrula paints elements of the Uwalki Watiya Tjuta, the trees that supply the spears and other wooden objects used in traditional lifestyle. The distinctive symbols are closely associated with the artist, while the larger Spear Tjukurrpa has been represented by other family members, notably her late brother Turkey Tolson. The references are to Mitjili’s father’s country at Ulwalki.
Kim Butler Napurrula is one of the younger generation of artists who can distill the elements and designs from the Women’s Ceremony practices into compact small paintings that still carry an air of authority and power in their structures. Yinarupa Gibson Nangala can make tiny paintings that catch the drama of her large scale epic canvases of the Womens Creation stories from her ancestral lands.
More than 25 artists are contributing to this exhibition at Japingka Gallery to create an exciting cross section of major and emerging Aboriginal artists showing small scale paintings. The exhibition runs from 30 may until 9 July 2014.
Further information is available on exhibiting artists on the following links
Thomas Tjapaltjarri
Yinarupa Gibson Nangala
Mitjili Napurrula
Joylene Reid Napangardi
Betty Mbitjana
Charmaine Pwerle
Rosemary Petyarre
Kudditji Kngwarreye
Linda Syddick Napaltjarri
Nellie Marks Nakamarra