Kudditji Kngwarreye

Kudditji Kngwarreye, also known as "Goob", (1938 – 23 January 2017) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. He was the brother through kinship of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Like his skin sister Emily, he was one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary indigenous Australian art.

Life Kngwarreye was born and lived in the Anmatyerre language group at Alhalkere in the Utopia community, located north-east of Alice Springs. Kngwarreye had a traditional bush upbringing and worked as a stockman and mine worker. He was also a traditional custodian of many important Dreamings of the land, and men's business ceremonial sites located in his country at Utopia Station.

Kngwarreye witnessed the success of Albert Namatjira, and experienced the 1967 referendum. Kngwarreye and his countrymen had their land claim approved in 1979 and throughout the years he felt the effects of different government policies on Indigenous people of the Northern Territory. Kngwarreye started painting around 1986 and continued painting until 2015. He participated in many international exhibitions and became known for depictions of his Dreamings; their abstract imagery, bold colour use, and intuitive interplay with space and form has cemented his name in the Aboriginal art scene.

Over the years, the Anmatyerre elder's Dreamings evolved into juxtaposed colour fields in both composition and hue. Harsh or soft, his style mapped out the creation, his country, and his traditional Dreamings.

In 2006, he was named one of the top 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Art Collector magazine.

In 2013, Kate Owen Gallery presented the exhibition "The Master Returns"a long-awaited new body of work by Kudditji and his first since overcoming a difficult battle with illness. Gallery owner and director Geoff Henderson commented at the time, "Quite simply, this is the most powerful and compelling body of works I’ve seen from him". Kngwarreye continued to paint until 2015 when illness prevented him from painting any longer. Two years later, in January 2017, he died peacefully in a retirement home in Alice Springs.

Art style Acrylic paintings were introduced to Utopia in 1988/89 by Rodney Gooch and others of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). An exhibition of some of these artists' work, organised by CAAMA, called "A Summer Project", where Kngwarreye's work received immediate attention from critics. The Summer Project, Emily's national launch exhibition, featuring her debut canvas work Emu Woman.

The predominant Aboriginal style, developed with assistance from art teacher Geoffrey Bardon at the Papunya community in 1971, featured many similarly sized dots carefully lying next to each other in distinct patterns. Instead, members of the Utopia community were encouraged by Mike Mitchell of Muk Muk Fine Art (now Mitchell Fine Art). After workshopping and trialing, the quintessential Kngwarreye brushwork emerged, which Kngwarreye further refined to create his own original artistic style.

Like many of the desert artists, he mastered the use of acrylic paint on canvas. His 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.

Initially, the highly intuitive and gestural painting method for which he became known was not welcomed by galleries. Instead, he was encouraged to paint in the fashionable style of the time, executing works with overt iconography, figurative elements and detailed infill. However, after witnessing the success of Utopian artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who catapulted onto the Australian and International Art scene using a technique similar to his, Kngwarreye resumed his exploration of the abstract.

From early 2003, Kngwarreye 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 a few, it was not well received at the time. Today, Kngwarreye'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.

For international collectors of contemporary art, Kngwarreye quickly became an obvious addition. Collectors saw mastery in his technique and appreciated his floating fields of luminous colour. Whilst many international visitors compared him to the great American abstract impressionist, Mark Rothko, Kngwarreye was totally unaware of any similarities. He was just painting his country, his Dreamings, his way.

Emu dreaming During his younger days, Kngwarreye held the responsibility of an elder, and frequently took young men hunting emu across his ancestral lands, merging tradition with practice as part of their initiation as men.

While painting, Kngwarreye could be heard singing. On one level it was a way of infusing his works with stories of the land; the ancestors, hunts, travels and the food and water of Anmatyerre country. On other levels, the act of painting reminded him of home and his singing was his way of maintaining his bond with his country, far away from Alice Springs. He painted the country he longed to see again, and, at least in that moment of singing and painting, he returned to his country, if only in his heart and mind.

Kngwarreye held the responsibility of an elder, and frequently took the young boys/men hunting emu across his ancestral lands, merging tradition with practice as part of their initiation as men.

Collections Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs Hank Ebes Collection, Melbourne Macquarie University, Sydney University of New South Wales, Sydney Guilleman and Sordello Collection, France R. M. Barokh Antiques, California Mbantua Gallery Permanent Collection Alice Springs

Exhibitions Solo: 2016: Singing Up Country | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2016: Kudditji Kngwarreye - A master painter there is only one of him, Mandel Aboriginal Art Gallery, Melbourne 2014: Kudditji Kngwarreye, Japingka Gallery, Perth 2014: Earth + Sky, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane 2013: Kudditji: Landscapes in the Family Tradition, Booker-Lowe Gallery, Houston, Texas USA 2013: Colours of Dreaming | Kudditji Kngwarreye, Mitchell Fine Art, Brisbane 2013: The Master Returns, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2011: Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2011: COLOURFIELD: new paintings, Fireworks gallery, Brisbane 2010: Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2010: Kudditji Kngwarreye, Palya Proper Fine Arts Alice Springs 2009: Kudditji Kngwarreye: Pastels, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2008: My Country, Kudditji Kngwarreye, Central Art Aboriginal Store, Alice Springs 2008: 30 Emu Dreamings, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2008: My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth 2006: Masterwork, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2006: My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth 2006: Two Fields, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane 2005: Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Danks Street, Sydney 2005: New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2005: Colours in Country, Art Mob, Hobart, Tasmania 2004: My Country, New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2004: My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth 2004: Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Sofitel Wentworth Hotel Exhibition, Sydney 2003: New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 1999: New Paintings, Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne

Group: 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 2015: From the Vaults - highlights from the Collectors' Gallery, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2014: Vast Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2012: The Colourists: Kudditji Kngwarreye and Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Japingka Gallery, perth 2013: Sky and Desert, Foundation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Switzerland 2010: Utopia: Eastern Anmatyerre Artists, Neo Gallery, Brisbane 2009: Aboriginal Art, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney 2009: Reves Aborigines, Musee Arts et Histoire de Bormes-Les-Mimosas, Bormes-Les-Mimosas, France 2008: From the Air, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane 2008: Black & White: Inspired by Landscape, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney 2006: New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2005: Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs 2005: Fresh from the Central Desert, Canberra Grammar School, Canberra 2004: Two Senior Men, Art Mob Gallery, Tasmania 2004: Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago 2004: Heartbeat - Living Country, Wenthworth Hotel, Sydney 2004: Spirit of Colour, Depot Gallery, Sydney 2002: The Contemporaries, Contemporary Artspace, Brisbane 2000: Mia Mia, Aboriginal Art gallery, Melbourne 1999: Chapel Off, Chapel gallery, Melbourne 1992: Tjukurrpa, Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, Switzerland 1991: Central Australian Aboriginal Art & Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs 1990: Art Dock, Contemporary Art from Australia, Nouméa, New Caledonia

Influence Artists around the world were inspired by the work of Kudditji Kngwarreye, including Melbourne-based painter Vincent Fantauzzo (a four-time Archibald People's Choice Award winner). Vincent's 2016 exhibition "Last Contact" at Nanda Hobbs Gallery showcased five triptychs; each containing a portrait of a great Central Australian artist, together with a painting by the Indigenous artist and a landscape by Fantuazzo. His great affection and respect for Kudditji is undeniable: "He kind of looks like a character from Lord of the Rings but there's nothing fake about him. Everything is genuine and real."

Fantauzzo has commented on the sense of urgency he felt to complete his portrait, when in 2015 Kngwarreye fell ill and there were fears he may not recover. "I get goosebumps thinking about it. That's the time when I realised what he meant to me and what he taught me." Fantuazzo entered his portrait of Kngwarreye in the 2015 Archibald Prize as well as Kngwarreye's artwork in the Wynne Prize. Neither painting was shown in the finalist exhibition.

Another artist to have been positively influenced by Kudditji Kngwarreye is Philip Hunter Lindsay, a Sydney-based landscape and portrait artist and finalist in the Art Gallery of New South Wales 2011 Sir John Sulman Prize. Philip claims to have taken inspiration from Kngwarreye, particularly his early life living as a stockman in the remote parts of central Australia. Philip Hunter Lindsay has painted over a dozen unique, sought after, colorful portraits of Kudditji Kngwarreye over a decade of his admiration for the unique, Australian artist.

Awards In 2006, Kngwarreye was named as one of the top 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Art Collector magazine.

Kudditji Kngwarreye

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