Born around 1928, Kudditji Kngwarreye had a traditional bush upbringing in the lands of the Utopia Station situated about 230 km north-east of Alice Springs, NT.
As an Anmatyerre elder and custodian of many important Dreamings, Kudditji was originally inspired by the work coming out of Papunya to paint his own Dreamings, telling of the travels and laws of the Emu ancestors. During his younger days Kudditji frequently took the young boys/men hunting emu in these lands, merging tradition with practice as part of their initiation as men. It is the land of this experience that Kudditji painted his ‘Emu Dreamings' and his 'My Country' works. Alongside he worked as stockman and mine worker.
Whilst they were not blood related, Kudditji was recognised as a skin brother of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. While Kudditji began painting around 1986, his highly intuitive and gestural method of painting was not welcomed by galleries. Thus, he was encouraged to paint in the fashionable style of the time, executing works with detailed infill. After seeing Emily catapult on to the Australian and International Art scene, Kudditji resumed his exploration into the abstract and experimented with the synthetic polymer paint to eradicate the pointillist style altogether and to use a heavily loaded paint brush to sweep broadly across the canvas in stages, similar to the western landscape plane. These paintings were romantic images of his country, accentuating the colour and form of the landscape including the depth of the sky in the wet season and in the reds and oranges of the shimmering summer. Subsequently he was seduced by the possibilities of acrylic paint and the kaleidoscope of colours now available to him,
Kudditji participated in many international exhibitions and became known for his acrylic colour-field depictions of his Dreamings. Harsh or soft and often surprising to the Western eye, his painterly style maps out the creation, his country, and his traditional Dreamings. While his spatial, painterly compositions have a Rothko-esque quality to them, the work of this Anmatyerre elder from the Northern Territory is clearly a unique Australian voice.
While painting, he could be heard singing - his way of infusing his works with stories of the land; the ancestors, hunts, travels and the food and water of Anmatyerre country. Kngwarreye's songs will continue to echo through his beautiful artworks, which now hang in museums, galleries, private collections, homes and offices all over the world.
Kudditji was named as one of the top 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Art Collector magazine.
Collections
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
Guilleman and Sordello Collection, France
Macquarie University, Sydney
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016, Singing Up Country | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; Kudditji Kngwarreye - A master painter thee is only one of him, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, Melbourne.
2014, Kudditji Kngwarreye, Japingka Gallery, Perth; Earth + Sky, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane.
2013, Kudditji: Landscapes in the Family Tradition, Booker-Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas USA; Colours of Dreaming | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane; The Master Returns, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney.
2011, Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; COLOURFIELD: new paintings, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane.
2010, Kudditjy Kngwarreye: My Country, Whitford Fine Art, London; Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney.
2009, Kudditji Kngwarreye, Burrinja Gallery, Upwey, Melbourne; Kudditji Kngwarreye - Recent Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle.
2008, 30 Emu Dreamings, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth.
2006, New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth.
2005, Colours in Country, Art Mob, Hobart, Tasmania; New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Danks Street, Sydney.
2004, My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth; Kudditji Kngwarreye: My Country - New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Sofitel Wentworth Exhibition, Sydney.
2003, New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016, Spoilt for Choice - a director's choice exhibition, Kate Gwen Gallery, Sydney.
2015, Signs and Traces - Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Cultural Institute Zamek, Pozan, Poland; From the Vaults - highlights from the Collectors' Gallery, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney.
2014, Vast Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney.
2013, Sky and Desert, Foundation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Switzerland.
2012, The Colourists: Kudditji Kngwarreye and Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Japingka Gallery, Perth.
2010, Utopia: Eastern Anmatyerre Artists, Neo Gallery, Brisbane; Arnkerrthe - A Tribute to Nancy Petyarre, Astras Gallery, Gold Coast; Summer Collection, Japingka Gallery, Perth.
2009, Aboriginal Art, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney; Summer Collection, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; Art Mob Aboriginal Fine Art, Hobart, Tasmania; Utopia 09, Neo Gallery, Brisbane; Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney Kudditji Kngwarreye - Pastels new works, new palette, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; Rêves Aborigènes, Musée Arts et Histoire de Bormes-Les-Mimosas, Bormes-Les-Mimosas, France.
2008, Black & White: Inspired By Landscape, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; Central Australian Aboriginal Art - The Ultimate Collection, Alice Sundown Aboriginal Art, Alice Springs; Utopia, Art Equity, Sydney.
2007, Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, John Leech Gallery, Auckland.
2006, Artist of Utopia Then & Now, Outback Alive, Canberra; Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition, Darwin; Masterwork, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne.
2005, Fresh from the Central Desert, Outback Alive, Canberra Grammar School, Canberra; Ken Field Memorial Art Exhibition, Scotch College, Melbourne; Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs; Colours in Country, Art Mob Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania2004, Two Senior Men, Art Mob Gallery, Tasmania; Heartbeat - Living Country, Wentworth Hotel, Sydney; Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago; Spirit of Colour, Depot Gallery, Sydney.
2002, The Contemporaries, Contemporary Artspace, Brisbane.
1999, Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne.
1992, Tjukurrpa, Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, Switzerland.
1991, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs.
1990, Art Dock, Contemporary Art from Australia, Noumea, New Caledonia.