Jock Mosquito Paintings

Jock Mosquito is a senior Jaru man, and was born around 1944 on Nicholson Station in the East Kimberley, along the desert country south of Kununurra. Jock Mosquito spent his working life based at Nicholson, and like other Aboriginal stockmen of his day, mustered on surrounding stations. He did not know his mother – his father and grandmother “grew him up”. Jock Mosquito had the opportunity to go to Beagle Bay for schooling, but his father and grandmother did not wish him to go. Later Jock married Doreen, a Kitja woman, and they have six boys, two girls and thirty-two grandchildren. They are a close family unit.

Jock Mosquito is a desert Aboriginal artist painting successfully in ochre – as was the late Rover Thomas, with whom Jock worked as a stockman. Jock Mosquito assisted in painting the Kuril Kuril (dancing) boards for Rover’s corroboree, alongside the senior ochre artists Jack Britten, Hector Jandany, George Mung Mung and Churchill Cann. These men are regarded as the cultural leaders and custodians of the Kitja country and surrounds.

Always a strong artist, after suffering a stroke in early 2005, Jock Mosquito developed a more minimal style, with the content of his works leaning towards landscape rather than some of the intricate desert designs he executed previously. Jock Mosquito clearly states that what he paints is his country – the country for which he is traditional elder, and the country that he has lived and worked in all his life. These places are significant sites in the artist’s life and significant sites in the geography of the East Kimberley and adjacent desert country. Jock Mosquito paintings are represented in the National Gallery of Australia and in numerous private collections. Aboriginal art status – Established artist.

Solo Exhibitions

2006  Jock Mosquito, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA

Group Exhibitions

2006  Little Ochres – Paintings from the East Kimberley, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2007  Ochre on Board, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2009  In Ochre, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2013  Landmarks and Law Grounds: Men of the Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA