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Jimmy Pike and the Birth of Desert Designs
Meeting Jimmy Pike Q: So was this when you met Jimmy Pike? David: Yes. Probably 1982, I think I met Jimmy Pike. He struck me as significant because his strong connection to aboriginal culture was such a resource for him. Jimmy Pike seemed to disappear back into the culture he carried with him. He emerged very quickly…
Spirituality and the History of Aboriginal Art
Shifts in Values in Aboriginal Art The spiritual appeal in Aboriginal art seems to be a source of considerable reinvention. Sometimes when that cycle starts it draws in new players all the time. There seems to be certain times in large movements where there’s a shift and that triggers a whole series of human reactions…
Everyday Spirituality: Paintings from The Spinifex Arts Project
Amanda Dent, Project Manager for the Spinifex Arts Project, discusses new works being exhibited at Japingka Gallery in October 2014. Q: Can you tell us what excites you about this current exhibition? The works that Spinifex artists do are amazing, because they have such integrity, and there’s such an intuitive flow to the work. The…
Working With The Spinifex Arts Project
Amanda Dent and her partner Brian Hallett are the Spinifex Arts Project Managers. They moved to the remote area Wingellina (or Irrunytju) in the Ngaanyatjarra Lands in 1999. In 2000, with the support of the Irrunytju Community Council, the women and Amanda started Irrunytju Arts, her first time working for Western Desert Artists. Brian and…
Lorna Fencer’s Yam Dreaming In Major Paris Exhibition
I’m very excited about a new Paris exhibition Poetry of the Yam. It’s featuring the colourful works of Lorna Fencer and the yam is the main story behind many of Lorna’s paintings. In this exhibition Lorna’s role as a custodian for a yam dreaming story within her Walrpiri culture is being set alongside some yam…
Lorna Fencer and Yam Dreaming – An Interview with Didier Zanette
Didier Zanette is passionate about art from the Pacific. He spends six months of each year living in New Caledonia and travels throughout the Pacific collecting indigenous art for his three galleries. In this interview he talks with David Wroth about his passion for indigenous Australian art and the upcoming exhibition of Lorna Fencer he…
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The Art of Lorna Napurrula Fencer (c1925 – 2006)
First Meetings Since first meeting Lorna Napurrula Fencer at Lajamanu community in 1999, I had a feeling that Lorna was an artist with a big story to tell and a unique way of telling it. Japingka Gallery held its first exhibition of Lajamanu artists from the Warnayaka Arts cooperative in August 1999, including work by…
Stunning Entries in the 2014 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards
This years Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards were just fantastic. I haven’t been to the Awards in five years. I used to go every year, but I became disillusioned and decided not to go anymore. For me it had become more of a political competition. It seemed to matter who was…
New Article about the Influence of Geoffrey Bardon
Geoffrey Bardon was an Australian school teacher who had a significant part to play in the development of the Western Desert aboriginal art movement. We have recently published a new article that looks at his work: The Early Influence of Geoffrey Bardon on Aboriginal Art The Influence of Geoffrey Bardon
The Early Influence of Geoffrey Bardon on Aboriginal Art
Australian school teacher Geoffrey Bardon spent 18 months in the early 1970s in the remote Aboriginal settlement of Papunya, 240 km west of Alice Springs. Geoffrey was instrumental in nurturing the early days of the Western Desert aboriginal art movement. From humble and very difficult beginnings, the movement supported by Bardon went on to achieve significant…
The Emily Kngwarreye Phenomenon
Article last updated: Feb, 2018 Emily Kame Kngwarreye (1919-1996) was a phenomenon in the world of modern Australian art. Starting to paint when she was nearly 70, it is estimated that in a stellar career that lasted 8 years, Emily may have painted as many as 5,000 paintings. In just the years from 1990 to…
Here’s An Excellent Review For Charlie’s Country
It’s wonderful when a highly skilled director like Rolf de Heer takes the risks that he does to make a film that explores another layer of the complex story of being aboriginal in Australia. You’d think it would be so much easier to fund and promote a film that sticks to more commercial pathways and…
Collector Offers Rare Aboriginal Art From Australia’s Best
I’m excited to be announcing a collection of rare works by Aboriginal artists in an exhibition at Japingka Gallery from 18 July – 20 August called Private Eye. Click here to view the exhibition. The exhibition will include works from famous Australian Aboriginal artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Naata Nungurrayi, Jackie Giles, Johnny Warangkula, Elizabeth…
New Collector Stories – Pixie & The Alma Granites Painting That Started It All
A painting by Alma Nungarrayi Granites (also known as Alma Nungarai Granites) sparked Pixie’s interest in aboriginal art. Since her first purchase a year ago she’s added quite a few more aboriginal paintings to her collection. Pixie tells how she’s cleared away her other artworks and even some furniture to transform her home. Here she…
The Rain Making – A Story about Kurtal, by David Downs
Kurtal by David Downs Jap 010521 When we’re doing an opening night for a show here at Japingka Gallery we usually tell a story. There’s not a lot of pre-planning to it, we just pick a painting and talk to the people who are in the room about something that has a strong impact on…
What Do You Need To Start Your Aboriginal Art Collection?
Cross Roads, Argyle Hill by Rover Thomas Jap 010522 It’s always a pleasure to hear stories from people about how they first fell in love with Aboriginal art. One thing that I hear in all the stories is the spark of passion that happens at the very beginning. They saw one particular painting and that…
Book Launch by Adrian Newstead at Japingka Gallery
Sydney art dealer Adrian Newstead spoke of his 30 year involvement in Aboriginal art at the launch of his latest book “The Dealer is the Devil: An Insiders History of the Aboriginal Art Trade”. The book launch at Japingka Gallery on Friday 4 April coincided with the exhibition opening for “Desert Song – Women Artists”.…
Pike Family Artists Exhibition at Japingka Gallery
A long association between Japingka Gallery and the family of Jimmy Pike is celebrated with an exhibition of works by Jimmy and his brother Edgar Pike, and Francine Steele, Jimmy’s niece. The exhibition features paintings, silkscreen prints, etchings and silk scarves. Jimmy Pike’s first drawings and limited edition prints were made in Fremantle in the…
An Introductory Guide to Understanding Aboriginal Art
Australian Aboriginal art is a unique view into the culture and values of Aboriginal people. Its expansion to reach a much wider audience has allowed a greater awareness of the nature of traditional Aboriginal world. There are many aspects to gaining a greater understanding of Aboriginal art, including looking widely at good examples of art…
Exhibitions – Aboriginal Art at Japingka Gallery 1997-2010
Japingka Gallery opened its exhibition program in 1997 with Aboriginal prints from the Art Print Network. Previously the artworks shown were all Aboriginal paintings and prints from the gallery collection. Since that time Japingka Gallery has hosted over 175 exhibitions sourced from Aboriginal communities and regions across Australia. We provide a list of all exhibitions up until the end of 2010. From that point all recent exhibitions can be viewed under the Exhibitions tab on the home page.
Japingka Exhibitions
Aboriginal Art and Kinship Groups
Aboriginal kinship (Skin groups) Aboriginal art is defined by the social and cultural setting where it was created, as is the case in all world art. As a representation of knowledge and of place, set down within an existing social structure, art has a function of expressing identity. Aboriginal artists express their identity and social…
Indigenous Art or Aboriginal Art?
The words ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Indigenous’ are both used in Australia to describe the original inhabitants of the Australian continent. The word ‘Aboriginal’ is the established way to describe the first inhabitants, regularly used in contexts of Aboriginal community, Aboriginal health, Aboriginal art etc. ‘Aboriginal’ is also used as a noun, so a person is an…
Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Australia
The contribution of Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Australia has been of rapidly growing significance since the first desert works emerged from Papunya in 1971. At that time a young school teacher in the remote community of Papunya in Central Australia, keen to see what unique traditional work the Aboriginal children could produce, indirectly discovered that…
Aboriginal Art Facts
Where did Aboriginal art come from? Australian Aboriginal people had two traditional forms of communication. These were oral storytelling and song as well as visual communication through drawing, painting and the use of ceremonial design. There was no written language, however for many survival depended on the ability to remember where food and water sources…
Iwantja Artists – Last Days
Japingka Gallery’s first showing of the Artists from Iwantja comes to an end this week. Purchased works are now available for collection from the gallery. The response to the paintings has been very positive, with sales coming from nearly all the artists’ works in the exhibition. Special comment was often made in relation to the…
Mowanjum Festival
The Mowanjum Art centre hosts one of Western Australia’s great Aboriginal festival days – 11 July 2013. Mowanjum Festival is always a great event, a pure piece of Kimberley Aboriginal heritage and theatre. If you are anywhere near Derby in the West Kimberley on 11 July you must get there. Aboriginal dancers from all around…
Men of the Desert: Landmarks & Law Grounds Exhibition
Gallery 1 Friday April 12 at 6.30pm When over 35 senior male artists paint the great stories of their ancestral lands, the stories are bound to be vast and impressive. Japingka Gallery presents an exhibition of significant Men’s paintings that focus on Landmarks of identity – places and sites that mark out identity in the…
Mapping Country – Artists of Ampilatwatja Community
21st September to 31st October Michelle Pula Holmes My Country Jap 008378 Artists from Ampilatwatja community, 320 km north-east of Alice Springs, have a distinctive approach to landscape, producing finely dotted images of Apmer, the traditional custodial lands of the artists. Their country is vast, 17,000 square kilometres of land which the custodians protect and…
Two Women Artists – Jorna Newberry & Maisie Campbell Napaltjarri
Maisie Campbell Napaltjarri Minyma Inmaku – Women’s Ceremony Jap 008413 This exhibition features two women artists who both began painting in the 1990s after working closely with senior male artists within their family groups. Maisie Campbell Napaltjarri assisted her Pintupi elder husband Barney Campbell Tjakamarra (1928- 2007), before setting out on her own career. Maisie…
The Colourists: Kudditji Kngwarreye & Lorna Napurrula Fencer
Japingka Gallery presents an exhibition of two of the great colourists of the Central Desert art movement, Kudditji Kngwarreye (born c 1928) and the late Lorna Napurrula Fencer (c1924 – 2006). These two distinctive Indigenous artists are known for their large dynamic paintings, made powerful and electric by the colour they bring to their work.…