Artists of Ampilatwatja Share Their Bush Garden
David Wroth from Japingka Gallery talks about the dazzling new exhibition from the artists of Ampilatwatja.
In Gallery Two we have the exhibition titled Bush Garden from the Artists of Ampilatwatja in Central Australia. It's always a joy to see their paintings. They are small works which carry great charm and immediately engage your attention.
These works have a very close-up focus. The detail in the paintings, the sense of colour and the richness is impressive. It's always a joy to see a group of works like this. I believe this is the largest collection of paintings from Ampilatwatja community that we've ever had at one time in the gallery. The diversity and spread of colours is sensational.
The artists reflect on their own ancestral lands and the types of resources they find there. These paintings are about bush medicine and other kinds of useful plants that are harvested on the land. It is interesting to see how there is so much variation within these themes.
The artists bring their different stylistic methods to their work, they use colour and space differently, and they focus on various aspects of the landscape. Some artists focus on horizons, but it seems that as we go further into the distance, they don't lose detail in the plants and the terrain. You clearly see the detail from the foreground right back to the hills in the background.
Other artists use a perspective that makes you feel that you're looking down from above. You're still seeing all the plants and flowers and shrubs quite clearly because we're looking at a microcosm within a background of a huge landscape.
The colours are warm and inviting. The detail is wonderful, and this will be a very exciting show. We're still putting works on the walls as we speak, and we're really looking forward to seeing the completed look of the exhibition.