Sydney Contemporary 2019

COOEE ART GALLERY

“I have become part of the work as I run my hands across the surface while painting each piece�

- Joshua Bonson

Cover (front & back) Image Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja (detail) natural earth pigments on bark 84 x 67 cm Inner Front Cover Image Jock Mosquito Drawing in the Sand Source: Cooee Art Gallery

About the Galler y Cooee Art

Australia’s Oldest Aboriginal Art Galler y Cooee Art is Australia’s oldest exhibiting Indigenous art gallery. Since first working with Aboriginal artists in 1981, it has presented the finest Australian Aboriginal art through exhibitions and events in Australia, Europe and the Americas. With more that 3000 works of art by over 150 individual artists its extensive stockroom encompasses a wide range of regional and individual styles. The collection includes rare bark paintings and artefacts, early desert boards and acrylic paintings, and an exciting range of contemporary Aboriginal paintings, sculpture, limited edition fine art prints and hand crafted gifts.

Cooee Art is now located in two beautiful, yet distinctly different galleries - a conveniently located modern contemporary art space in Paddington’s designer precinct, and a boutique ‘collectors’ destination gallery and consultancy just a short walk from Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. Together they offer a unique and informative insight into the world of Australian Aboriginal art.

As well as sourcing historically significant pieces, Directors Adrian Newstead OAM and Mirri Leven, and their highly knowledgeable staff, obtain contemporary artworks from Aboriginal communities across the continent for its’ diverse range of projects. Its impressive international profile and 35+ years experience in the field makes Cooee Art one of the most highly respected Indigenous galleries in Australia. Its clients include private collectors, institutions, architects, interior designers and international visitors.

Cooee Art’s regular exhibition program includes solo shows by important living artists and thematic curated exhibitions. Book your visit to the gallery and enjoy a private introduction or simply drop by for an impromptu look at the latest exhibition - the gallery refreshes its exhibitions monthly.

Adrian Newstead OAM Founding Director Adrian Newstead OAM established Cooee Art in 1981 and has organised and curated more than 400 exhibitions of Indigenous art since that time. A former President of the Indigenous Art Trade Association and Director of Aboriginal Tourism Australia he became the Head of Aboriginal Art for Lawson~Menzies in 2003, and Managing Director of Menzies Art Brands until 2008. Adrian is an Aboriginal art consultant, dealer, author and art commentator, based in Bondi, NSW. He has more that 35 years experience working with Aboriginal and Australian Contemporary art.

Mirri Leven Director Having gained degrees in International Development and Fine Arts, and a Masters in Art Administration from the University of NSW College of Fine Art Mirri undertook fieldwork in the Solomon Islands and India whilst acting as the international photo editor for a London based travel magazine. She joined Cooee Art in 2007 and was appointed the Gallery Manager in 2010. In 2013, she left Australia to take up a role as director of a contemporary art gallery in London. Mirri has been a director of Cooee Art since 2015. She plans its exhibition program and project development, and is a founder of its auction arm, the Cooee Art MarketPlace. She has been a member of the Aboriginal Art Association of Australia board since 2017.

KITTY NAPANANGKA SIMON “I sing from my heart” Artist Kitty Simon was born in Yuendumu, though her family originated in Mina Mina, a place considered sacred for women’s business at Lake Mackay. She arrived in Lajamanu at 10 years of age. Now a senior female custodian, she is a keeper of women’s law.

As Kitty moves her brush across the canvas, she rhythmically chants verses of her clan’s creation story, a fragment of the ancient songline that links Mina Mina to sites throughout Warlprii land and far beyond. This Dreaming story, referred to reverently as Jukurrpa, is the major religious belief of the Warlpiri, covering their ancient moral code, rules for living and interaction with the natural environment.

Kitty enjoys painting as a social activity in Lajamanu. Her experiences of traveling through the desert and traditional life in Lajamanu, coupled with knowledge of culture, are the subject of her colourful paintings and singular style. The defining colours found throughout the Tanami, in flowers, the sky, water sources, and the salt bed of Lake Mackay, are in keeping with Yawulyu - the women’s artistic tradition which includes dance, ceremony, art, and song.

OPPOSITE | Kitty Napanangka Simon painting

“I sing from my heart�

- Kitty Napanangka Simon

Kitty Napanangka Simon | Minamina Dreaming | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen | 119 x 150 cm

Kitty Napanangka Simon | Minamina Dreaming | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen | 60 x 118 cm

Kitty Napanangka Simon | Minamina Dreaming | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen | 90 x 118 cm

JOSHUA BONSON “Everything is connected, the land, the water and us” Joshua Bonson began painting in his senior years at school.

He shares stories and celebrates his family’s totem the Saltwater Crocodile, his Indigenous heritage, and his personal world view.

Dabbling with paint he creates thickly textured works, recreating the scales of a saltwater crocodile, in an acrylic and impasto he refers to as ‘3D style’. His paintings are contemporary yet embody age old Indigenous traditions, stories and meanings.

This totem was given to him by his grandfather. In his artworks the armoured, skin of the reptile is interpreted through built-up serrations of the paint and other materials applied by hand or directly from the tube.The finished works can be read as a close-up of a reptile’s skin, as a landscape seen both from a distance, and as close-up details of rocks and sand. Colour, too, plays an integral role. Thick underlying layers of blues and greens represent the sea, shades of black, yellow, orange and red evoke the details of rocks and sand reflecting country. Through his art, Bonson is recovering lost fragments of culture and establishing his place within it.

Joshua Bonson was the youngest ever finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award when just 18 years of age. Four years later at 22, he won the Togart Contemporary Art Award in Darwin. In 2013 Joshua was again a finalist in the 30th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, a finalist in the City of Albany Art Prize, and the winner of the Top End NAIDOC artist of the year.

OPPOSITE | Joshua Bonson painting | Image courtesy the artist

Joshua Bonson | Skin - Golden Sands | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on canvas | 200 x 120 cm

Joshua Bonson | Skin - Torres Strait | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on canvas | 166 x 103 cm

Joshua Bonson | Skin | 2019 synthetic polymer paint on canvas | 200 x 170 cm

MULUYMULUY WIRRPANDA ‘’Bulwutja’ is one of the plants which grows in and around the billabongs and swampy areas. The plants grow in clumps after the rains, and you pull them out in clumps.You cook it underground or on coals, and then mash it into a blackish grey paste that is tasty and nutritious.This paste can also be baked into a bread” Muluymuluy was the young wife of Wakuthi Marawili, one of the oldest and most revered elders in Arnhem land. Known as Banbay, ”blind one”, because of his poor eyesight, Wakuthi passed away on 2005. Today his sons Djambawa (winner of the 2019 Testra Art Award) and Nuwandjall play a large role in the day to day management of the large Madarrpa clan homeland, Yilpara and Muluyumuluy works with them producing important Madarrpa clan paintings. Her sister Mulkun Wirrpanda is also a senior artist.

Muluymuluy holds extensive knowledge of native plants of North East Arnhem Land and her artwork embodies this knowledge. Amongst the plant species represented in her works, are berries, yams and other edible species including Buwakul (native grape), Dilminyin (scaly ash), and Ganguri/ Manmuna (long yam). Her bark paintings depict Bulwutja, which grows in and around the billabongs and swampy areas on Madarrpa land. The plants grow in clumps after the rains and are pulled out in clumps, cooked underground or on coals, then mashed into a blackish grey paste that is tasty and nutritious. This paste can also be baked into a bread.

OPPOSITE | Muluymuluy Wirrpanda sitting amoungst her artworks Image courtesy Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, NT

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 116 x 51 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 76 x 72 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 163 x 65 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 84 x 56 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 84 x 67 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 76 x 74 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 103 x 54 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 108 x 59 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 108 x 74 cm

Muluymuluy Wirrpanda | Bulwutja | 2019 natural earth pigments on bark | 147 x 53 cm

DJIRRIRRA WUNUNGMURRA Djirrirra Wunungmurra comes from a renowned artistic family amongst the Dhalwangu clan from Gurrumurru, near Yirrkala. Her father, Yangarriny Wunungmarra and brother Nawurapu Wunugnmarra, are known for their epic bark paintings depicting major Dhalwangu narratives and have taught Wunungmurra the exceptional skills that distinguish her artworks.

Until recently, Djirrirra’s works have epitomised the highly geometric style for which Yirrkala is recognised, with intricate fields of rarrk (cross hatching) forming precise geometric patterns. In such works the shimmering effect of the rarrk reflects the power of the site or story represented.

These Yukuwa paintings, however, mark a dramatic shift in her own practice and, more widely, in the bark painting tradition of the region. Previously In these works Djirrirra has reduced her palette, avoided precise geometry and eliminated the use of rarrk. In developing this highly personal style the works have become a form of self-portraiture as Yukuwa (a yam) is one of her names. Yukuwa is associated with a renewal ceremony shared by all Yirritja moiety clans, involving the exchange of sacred objects, songs and dance.

Traditionally the invitation to this ceremony takes the form of a yam with strings ending in feathered flowers, reflecting the kinship lines that bind people of the clan together.

In these paintings Djirrirra has elegantly intertwined tendrils of the yam, adorned with feathered flowers. The subtle variations in the details of these flowers evoke traditional infilling techniques and give the work a lace-like appearance.

Their inherent simplicity belies her skill in transforming her cultural inheritance in a highly innovative and original way.

OPPOSITE | Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa (detail) | 2018 earth pigments and sand on Stringbark hollow pole | 19x176cm

Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa | 2017 earth pigments and sand on Strigybark hollow pole 230 x 12 cm Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa | 2017 earth pigments and sand on Strigybark hollow pole 204 x 11 cm Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa | 2017 earth pigments and sand on Strigybark hollow pole 176 x 19 cm Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa | 2017 earth pigments and sand on Strigybark hollow pole 189 x 18 cm Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Yukuwa | 2018 earth pigments and sand on Strigybark hollow pole 261 x 17 cm

Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Buyku natural pigment on bark | 75 x 65 cm

Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Buyku natural pigment on bark | 90 x 57 cm

Djirrirra Wunungmurra | Buyku | 2018 natural pigment on bark | 76 x 33 cm

EDDIE ANING-MIRRA CAREY Eddy Carey was born in 1971 in the Central Arnhem Land community of Maningrida. He is an emerging carver who is gaining renown for his depictions of sculptural Mimih spirits.

The people of Western Arnhem Land believe that Mimih spirits live in a social organisation similar to Aboriginal people and that Mimih society existed before humans. Mimih are credited with instructing the first people with knowledge relating to survival in the rocky environment of the Arnhem Land plateau. Mimih are said to have taught the first humans hunting, butchering game, as well as dancing singing and painting. Thereafter they entered the spirit world, residing in the craggy rock escarpments in the surrounding landscape.

Mimih are terribly thin, having necks so slender that a stiff breeze would be fatal. For this reason they emerge only on windless days and nights to hunt. As soon as a breeze develops, the Mimih are said to run back to their rocky caverns and disappear inside.

Eddie Aning-Mirra Carey | Mimih Spirit | 2019 natural earth pigments on carved wood | 162 x 8 x 5 cm Eddie Aning-Mirra Carey | Mimih Spirit | 2019 natural earth pigments on carved wood | 136 x 6 x 5 cm Eddie Aning-Mirra Carey | Mimih Spirit | 2019 natural earth pigments on carved wood | 122 x 6 x 4 cm

OPPOSITE | Eddie Aning-Mirra Carey Image courtesy Maningrida Arts & Culture // Elijah Yanggalwanga

DOROTHY NAPANGARDI ROBERSTON Dorothy Napangardi spent her early childhood living a nomadic life at Mina Mina near Lake Mackay during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Camping at claypans and soakages with her mother, Jeanie Lewis Napururrla, she learned to collect bush tucker, and grind seeds for damper cooked on hot ashes. This idyllic life came to an end when her family was forcibly relocated to the government settlement at Yuendumu.

In the late 1980s Dorothy began painting images of these bush foods including, most prominently Bush Banana. She began experimenting during the 1990s creating works which drew on her innate visual consciousness developed during those early years spent in the vast unlimited expanses of the desert.

Dorothy began to explore the Women’s Digging Sticks Dreaming and other stories related to the travels of the Karntakurlangu a large group of ancestral women known to have been responsible for the creation of sacred sites at Mina Mina. While dancing, digging sticks magically emerged from the ground, equipping the large band of women for their travels over a vast stretch of country. The tall desert oaks found there today symbolise the emergence of the digging sticks that literally rose up from beneath the ground itself.

As these works developed, her extraordinary spatial ability enabled her to create mimetic grids of the salt encrustations across the claypans at this sacred women’s site deep in the Tanami desert.

Dorothy Napangardi won the Telstra Aboriginal Art Award in 2001 and was honoured with a solo retrospective exhibition at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art in 2002-2003.

OPPOSITE | Dorothy Napangardi Robertson showing bush apples

Dorothy Napangardi | Karntakurlangu (Ochre) limited edition screenprint on paper | 120 x 80 cm

Dorothy Napangardi | Karntakurlangu | 2005 silkscreen | 120 x 80 cm

Dorothy Napangardi | Sandhills | 2008 synthetic polymer paint on Belgian linen| 122 x 91 cm

“I really like painting. While I’m doing my paintings I always have my family in my mind, I have my country in mind” - Dorothy Napangardi

COOEE ART GALLERY

G | COOEE ART GALLERY PADDINGTON A | 326 Oxford Street, Paddington, NSW, Australia P | 02 8057 6789 G | COOEE ART GALLERY BONDI A | 31 Lamrock Avenue, Bondi, NSW, Australia P | 02 9300 9233 E | info@cooeeart.com.au W | www.cooeeart.com.au