Kudditji Kngwarreye Aboriginal, 1938-2017
My Country 07, 2007
Acrylic on canvas
150 x 141 cm
Certificate of Authenticity
Signed verso
Signed verso
Like his famous older sister, the late great Emily Kngwarreye, Kudditji Kngwarreye (pronounced goo-beh-chee) has a deserved reputation as an innovator yet, at the same time, being a well respected...
Like his famous older sister, the late great Emily Kngwarreye, Kudditji Kngwarreye (pronounced goo-beh-chee) has a deserved reputation as an innovator yet, at the same time, being a well respected artist. Intrigued by the possibilities of acrylic paint and the kaleidoscope of colours available to him, Kudditji began to experiment with the synthetic polymer 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 heat. These ground-breaking paintings expressed Kudditjiextensive knowledge and love of his country in a way never seen previously. His two dimensional spatial constructions seem to refer to Rothko and modernists of the twentieth century. The paintings are documents of an intuitive interplay between artist and the space of a canvas. Kudditji has explored size of canvas as well as form in these intense, beautiful works. A sense of immense space can be felt in the paintings, where massive blocks of stippled colour are laid alongside each other, sometimes using only two colours, while in other paintings a quilt of juxtaposed colours produces a landscape effect.
In 2007 Kudditji was named one of the 50 most collectible artists in Australia.
In 2007 Kudditji was named one of the 50 most collectible artists in Australia.
Exhibitions
2010, Kudditji Kngwarreye - My Country, Whitford Fine Art, London
Literature
Kudditji Kngwarreye - My Country, exhibition catalogue with introduction by An Jo FERMON, Whitford Fine Art, London, 2010, ill cat. no. 18