Kudditji Kngwarreye
One of Australia's leading Aboriginal artists, Kudditji Kngwarreye was born about 1928 and began painting in the early eighties after the Desert Art Movement at Papunya was inspired by Geoffrey Bardon.
Custodian of his country, situated approximately 230kms north east of Alice Springs, he made a valuable contribution to the stockman's profession and also sought employment in the mines prior to developing his painting and settling on an artistic career.
Kudditji has been actively painting since 1986. Like many of the desert artists, he has mastered the use of acrylic paint on canvas. His exciting use of colour combined with simple shapes tell the stories of one of his inherited ancestral totems - the Emu Ancestors, their travels and teachings depicting various interpretations of the Emu Dreaming sites and ceremonies associated with Men's Business.
From early 2003 Kudditji began to experiment with paint to eradicate the pointillist style altogether and 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 raining season and in the summer heat.
While the early body of this work was admired by an astute few it was not well received at the time. Today Kudditji's works have a national and international following. He has been represented in major exhibitions and has gained worldwide recognition for his traditional depictions of his dreamings. He still paints, usually in Alice Springs.
The below artwork was featured in the Indigenous Law Bulletin July / August 2010 Volume 7 Issue 19.
