Kudditji Kngwarreye (Australian, born circa –2017)

Timeline

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.
Born around 1928, Kudditji Kngwarreye had a traditional bush upbringing in the Utopia region before starting a long career as a stockman and mine worker. 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 law of the Emu ancestors. Starting in 1986, his Emu Dreaming paintings, which reflected his traditional upbringing and utilised the very fine dots and symbols, became sought after by major galleries in Australia.
Then, intrigued by the possibilities of acrylic paint and the kaleidoscope of colours now available to him, Kudditji began to experiment 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 heat.
These ground-breaking paintings expressed Kudditji’s extensive knowledge and love of his country in a way never seen previously. Some commentators have seen a strong similarity with his sister Emily's work - but it is not clear who was the first to set out on this path. The demand for his earlier, detailed style, however, moved Kudditji to return to it, and it was only in 2003 at the age of 74 that he began to exhibit the extraordinary, saturated colour paintings that have seen his reputation grow nationally and internationally. His two dimensional spatial constructions innocently refer to Rothko and modernists of the twentieth century. The paintings are documents of an intuitive interplay between artist and creating a spacial tension within the 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 can produce a moody atmospheric landscape effect.

Exhibitions

2010
Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney (solo)
2010
Utopia: Eastern Anmatyerre Artists, Neo Gallery, Brisbane
2010
Arnkerrthe - A Tribute to Nancy Petyarre, Astras Gallery, Gold Coast
2010
Summer Collection, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2009
Kudditji Kngwarreye, Burrinja Gallery, Upwey, Melbourne; Kudditji Kngwarreye - Recent Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle (solo)
2009
Aboriginal Art, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
2009
Summer Collection, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2009
Pink 2009, Art Mob Aboriginal Fine Art, Hobart, Tasmania
2009
Utopia 09, Neo Gallery, Brisbane
2009
Size Matters, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2009
Kudditji Kngwarreye - Pastels new works, new palette, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2009
Rêves Aborigènes, Musée Arts et Histoire de Bormes-Les-Mimosas, Bormes-Les-Mimosas, France
2008
Black & White: Inspired By Landscape, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2008
Central Australian Aboriginal Art - The Ultimate Collection, Alice Sundown Aboriginal Art, Alice Springs
2008
Utopia, Art Equity, Sydney
2008
30 Emu Dreamings, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney; My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth (solo)
2007
Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
2006
Artist of Utopia Then & Now, Outback Alive, Canberra
2006
Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition, Darwin
2006
Masterwork, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2006
New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth (solo)
2005
Colours in Country, Art Mob, Hobart, Tasmania; New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Danks Street, Sydney (solo)
2005
Fresh from the Central Desert, Outback Alive, Canberra Grammar School, Canberra
2005
Ken Field Memorial Art Exhibition, Scotch College, Melbourne
2005
Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2005
Colours in Country, Art Mob Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2004
Two Senior Men, Art Mob Gallery, Tasmania
2004
Heartbeat - Living Country, Wentworth Hotel, Sydney
2004
My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth; Kudditji Kngwarreye: My Country - New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne; Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Sofitel Wentworth Exhibition, Sydney (solo)
2004
Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago
2004
Spirit of Colour, Depot Gallery, Sydney
2003
New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne (solo)
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

Public Collections

Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne
Guilleman and Sordello Collection, France
Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
Macquarie University, Sydney
English (US)

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