Week 8

Urban Aboriginal Art

This week we looked at urban Aboriginal Artists, who see themselves as being squarely in the mainstream of contemporary Australian art and refuse to be differentiated or marginalized into a separate category. These artists use a wide variety of media and modes of expression, ranging from painting, prints, pottery, photography, digital works and installations. These artists battle against the stereotyping of Aboriginal Art and is often criticized for being not ‘authentic’ enough, because of their non-traditional techniques.

Some urban Aboriginal Artists to note:

·       Gordon Bennett

·       Judy Watson

·       Tracey Moffatt

·       Fiona Foley

·       Richard Bell

·       Sally Morgan

·       Trevor Nickolls

·       Albert Namatjira

·       Mickey of UllaDulla

·       William Barak

·       Tommy McRae

·       And the previously mentioned Lin Onus

A stand out artisst for me from this group is Trevor Nickolls. His drawings and paintings reflect his personal experience as an aborignal man from remotes South Australia, and his relationship to land, place and history. Using bright colours and a relaxed technique, his work mirrors his passionate search for the meaning of life and its struggles and joys. Nickolls depicts a wide range of perception, translating greedm humour and political issues to a visual surface with pure energy.

Trevor Nickolls, Mother Earth and Father Space stealing a kiss during the war against humanity, 2004 (Synthetic polymer paint on canvas)

Week 5,6,7

The last few lectures have been on Different Regional Styles of Australia for Aborginal Art. Each has its own style and techniques. The three main styles are, The Desert Region, The Kimberley Region and Arnham Land. (Below is the three main regions mapped).

Art of the Kimberley

Distinctive Style Characteristics are Large blocks of colour, Shapes outlined with white dots, Restricted palette, consisting of rich ochre tones with natural pigments. This style is most commonly associated with artists from North West Australia such as Paddy Bedford and Rover Thomas. (Below) Example of the Kimberley Region Style.

The Desert Region

Distinctive Style Characteristics: Wide palette. Images comprised of dots and circles. Acrylic on canvas.

This style propelled Indiginous art in Australia by making the ‘Dot art’ movement, and is most commonly associated with artists from Utopia, the Central Desert and the Western Desert. (Below) Example of the Desert Region style.

Arnham Land

Distinctive Style Characteristics: Restricted palette and natural pigments on bark. Cross-hatching or rark. This style is often derived from the meanings associated with the chest paintings used in sacred ceremonies. The paint used by artists often originated from sacred sites. (Below) Example of the Arnham Land style.

Interesting Links:

• http://www.artofthekimberley.com/ (Kimberley region)

Flinders University City Gallery

Located downstairs at the back of the State Library of Adelaide. This exhibition space aims to showcase the work of contemporary South Australian artists, as well as host exhibitions from the National Touring Network.

Now Showing:



Spirit in the Land
27th August - 23 October

The Landscape has been an enduring subject in the history of Australian art and vital to the on-going formation of images of a national identity. Within this tradition Spirit of the Land explores the connection between australian artists, historical and contemporary, Indigenous and non-Indiginous.[1]

Although the exhibition portrayed how different artists view the Australian land and their own experieces of living and being in the country, as a whole it seemed very 'one point of viewed'. Spirit of the land only represented only the outback land of Australia, not quite giving an accurate view of the entirety of Australia as a whole (aka not representing an suburban areas). It was difficult to use five words to describe it, because of its similarities. Brown, Dry, Abstract, Dark and Abandoned. All pieces represented Australia as a wasteland almost, arid and dangerous. On the positive point, there were some very interesting pieces, such as the piece above by Rosalie Gascoigne, titled 'Vintage'. This artwork was made of reflective road signs which were strategically placed onto plywood. Two of my favourite pieces in the gallery was Lin Onus's 'Jimmys Billabong' and Dorothy Napangardi's 'Mina Mina'. 


Lin Onus's piece 'Jimmy's Billabong' (below) has a very clear meaning for myself, in that the Australian environment is sacred land, basically. he uses tradition images from European and Aboriginal worlds to reflect the dilemmas and aspirations of Aboriginal people living in a predominantly non-Aboriginal society. The painting represents a barrier between the two societies, which is there, even if we don't want to admit it.

Dorothy Napangardi's 'Sandhills of Mina Mina' (below), 2000, is done on a huge canvas and was the stand out piece for me at this exhibition. She uses a fine variety of dot work in white on a plain black background to create an abstract painting which comes alive, from far away or close-up.

---

[1] Art Guide Australia

http://www.artguide.com.au/exhibition/spirit-in-the-land-/ (accessed 8^th September)

Samson & Delilah

Written and Directed by Warwick Thornton, Samson & Delilah is a film about two teenagers in a remote settlement outside of Alice Springs. The movie is advertised as a love story, leading audiences to believe that the film will give them a feel good experience. This is not the case, as you notice after several minutes. The story is told in a very unique way, with not much dialogue at all, the main two character hardly even speak, mainly communicating with each other through noises, gestures and throwing rocks or clumps of dirt. This results in the movie feeling like it goes for 4 hours. The film demands that you need to slow your pulse beat to adapt to listless rhythms, which govern the community’s routines.

The film has a very ‘real’ nature, with the two main characters being played by two inexperienced 14 year old actors who also grew up in remote communities similar to their characters. Delilah takes care of her grandmother, by continuing to make sure he takes her medication and goes to the clinic. Her grandmother is a renowned indigenous artist who lives in poverty as a result of being ripped off by art dealers for her work.  This is an interesting aspect of the film, and makes you wonder if this is really happening in Australia today. Samson lives a lonely life, which revolves around his band, filling th gaps of his life with inhaling petrol and causing trouble in the community.

After Samson gets beaten for hitting one of his brothers in a haze of drugs, and Delilah is beaten and blamed for her grandmother’s death, they run away to Alice Springs. This is were the story twists and the two begin living on the fringe of the city, and are faced with almost every danger of the city, such as boredom, violence, poverty, sexual assault, racism and drugs. They both struggle to survive.

The film is done in a very beautiful way, although the story gives a very grim, raw, look at the challenges that young people face in Aboriginal life in rural Australia. The intense dramatic blows continue throughout the movie, which makes you wonder when its all going to stop. “An inside look at a world rarely, if ever, depicted on the big screen”, Screen International. It is definitely a movie worth watching, to give another perspective of Aboriginal life. The movie takes you to another world, an honest, tender, but tough one.