Ngacchi Nathangu (My Place), Adrian King, 2008

Resumé Born Language Lives

1 March 1974 Lama Lama Lockhart River, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

Solo Exhibitions 2006 2005 2004 2002

My Family, My Home, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, VIC Mepla Go Fishing, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD North-East, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD

Group Exhibitions The Lockhart River Artgang Returns, Booker-Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT Residency at Santa Fe Art Institute, USA and exhibition at Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Flight, KickArts, Cairns, QLD 2006 Fuel, KickArts, Cairns, QLD October Gallery, London, UK Naive, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs, QLD Festival Interceltique de L’orient, Brittany, France Ewha University, Seoul, Korea 2005 Homefront, KickArts, Cairns, QLD 2004 Affordable Art Fair , New York, USA Colour Fields, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs, NT Booker-Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA 2003 Story Place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD Beneath the Monsoon: Visions North of Capricorn, Artspace Mackay, QLD; Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD; Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, QLD Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings from Lockhart River, Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia, USA Kulam Kannga (Beginning): New works by the Lockhart River Art Gang, The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA Ngaachi Ngampula (Our Country), Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW Lockhart River Gang, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT 2002–05 Native Title Business: Contemporary Indigenous Art, Queensland Museum, Brisbane (touring nationally) Message Stick: Journey’s End, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane, QLD 2001 Gatherings, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, QLD 2000 Telstra 17th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, The Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT In My Eyes—Lockhart River Art Gang and Friends, Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD 1999–2001 Message Stick, Stradbroke Island Tourist Centre, QLD; Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW; Logan Art Gallery, NSW; Bundaberg Arts Centre, QLD; Balonne River Gallery, Surat, QLD; Mount Isa Civic Centre, QLD; Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD; Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, QLD; Tamworth City Gallery, NSW; Nicholson Street Gallery, Bairnsdale, VIC; Albury Regional Art Gallery, NSW 1999 Postcard Exhibition, Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD 1998 Message Stick, Queensland Aboriginal Creations, Brisbane, QLD 1997 Ngana Nyiikana—us painting, Cairns Regional Gallery, QLD Mepla Sarbie Art, Lockhart River Art and Culture Centre, QLD 2008 2007

KickArts 96 Abbott Street Cairns Qld +617 4050 9494 www.kickarts.org.au

Lockhart River Art Gang

KickArts is supported by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and Territory Governments.

Ngacchi Nathangu (My place) Contemporary Paintings from Lockhart River by Adrian King

Adrian King, Claudie Mouth, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 1170 x 1760mm

Adrian King Adrian King was born in 1974 and is a Lama Lama man from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. He lives in Lockhart River and is a member of the Lockhart River Art Gang. He is professionally supported by the Lockhart River Art Centre, which provides studio space and resources for the production of works of art for members of the Gang.

King paints in a distinctive, naive style and favours a bright, bold palette. His canvas surfaces are brought to life with pictorial subjects documenting community life. The naivety of King’s style is in contrast to the close environmental and social observations made in his works. He paints the Lockhart River Community and outstations in descriptive detail and contemporary life scenes include landscapes, people, cut away buildings, roads, cars, animals and both everyday and special events.

The subjects favoured in Ngacchi Nathangu are predominantly hunting and fishing from the sea, inland rivers, creeks and billabongs. Crocs floating across the ocean remind us of the dangers of swimming in these waters and the favoured foods like turtle and dugong which are served at significant cultural ceremonies swim optimistically through the waves. We see the familiar scene of tinnies with 50/50 outboard motors which play such an important role for coastal communities and also the barges that bring supplies as they move up the coast and around the Torres Strait or back down the Western coast of the Cape. People are also equally important in these landscapes with community coming together, fishing together and sharing their catch.

Ngacchi Nathangu is the first solo exhibition of King’s work in Cairns. He has exhibited widely over the last ten years including solo exhibitions at Andrew Baker Art Dealer in Brisbane and Alcaston Gallery in Melbourne along with recent group exhibitions at the Institute of American Indian Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Booker-Lowe Gallery in Houston, Texas with other members of the Lockhart River Art Gang.

Rae O’Connell, Director, KickArts

Adrian King, Camping at Wenlock, 2002, acrylic on canvas, 585 x 930mm

Adrian King, Five Track - Restoration Island, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 710 x 905mm

Adrian King, Night Fishing, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 580 x 855mm

Adrian King, Turtle Fishing, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 810 x 1080mm