Mick Kubarkku (c. 1922 – 2008) (also spelled Gubarrgu) was regarded as a prominent Aboriginal Australian artist most associated with Kuninjku modernism.
Biography Mick Kubarkku was born near the Mann and Liverpool River Districts about 50 kilometers south of Maningrida in c. 1922. He grew up in the absence of European influence in the rock-shelters in the Mann River District. His secluded upbringing led him to be one of the few remaining people to have recollections of painting methods for traditional rock art paintings done by elder clan members. Mick Kubarkku died 16 May 2008.
Mick Kubarkku grew up in a nomadoc lifestyle, traveling all across Western Arnhem land and rotating through small outstations of civilization. He has painted from a very young age, learning his skills and knowledge from his father, Ngindjalakku. This nomad travel would take place between his father's homeland of Kulmarru and his mother's homeland Kardbam Country. However, on when the war began, he was sent with his brothers to the Milingimbi Mission. After the war, he returned to Australia and relocated to Oenpelli to work at Buffalo shooter camps. Shortly following this, he relocated to Maningrida in 1957 when it was newly settled by the government.
Kubarkku was one of the first painters in this area, beginning a long-standing tradition of art in the new area. His work began to gain traction in markets after the creation of Maningrida Arts and Culture in 1969. Kubarkku delved into the art of Mimih and other spirits in the 1970s. His depictions of these spirits were notable because he diverged from the normal thin and spindly representations of the Mimih and instead painted them strong spirits that resembled the rocks they sprang from. Later in his life, Kubarkku began to depict these spirits in a new medium, carvings. These carvings were three dimensional, creating a sculpture like art.
In his later years, Kubarkku remained a highly respected elder artist in the western Arnhem Land art movement. He lived with his family at Yirkarrakkal, his remote outstation, where he passed along his skills and helped them flourish as artists under his guidance.
Mick Kubarkku died in 2008. His daughter Marina Murdilnga is a fiber artist and also works through the Maningrida Arts and Culture Centre.
Career At the age of 15, Kubarkku was taught the cultural significance and crafting techniques for sacred clan designs by his father. The ease in which he picked up these techniques were noticed by the elder clan members and he was allowed to participate in painting rarrk for the Madayin ceremony on rock shelters. Despite his early exposure to painting, he did not continue as a full-time painter until 1957, when he settled in the newly established government settlement of Maningrida. Kubarkku became one of the first Kuninjku artists to register at the Maningrida arts centre.
Kubarkku initially began creating paintings for sacred cultural ceremonies, but he later shifted to selling his work through the government-founded township known as Maningrida.
His early paintings used a dotted infill technique that was reminiscent of the rock art he was accustomed to seeing in his youth. The homeland movement is regarded as the third period of Kuninjki modernism and is marked by the move from traditional rock art elements to the use of sacred designs in the artwork. Kubarkku was one of the first prominent artists to partake in the homeland movement during the 1970s. This movement can be seen in his work as his style transitioned from rock art influence to the inclusion of more sacred elements such as the cross hatching motif often used in the Mardayin ceremony.
Other prominent motifs in his work include abstracted rarrk, Mimi spirits, and totemic animals such as the turtle, kangaroo, and echidna. Outside of painting, Kubarkku did wood carvings which usually depicted Mimi and Yawk Yawk.
In 1995, Kubarrku was the subject of a major touring exhibition, Rainbow, Sugarbag and Moon, along with his contemporary Bardayal 'Lofty' Nadjamerrek. The exhibition was curated by Margie West for the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
By the time he died in May 2008, Kubarkku had been infirm for many years, and the last of his works of art were created in the early 2000s. He produced very few works in general after 1995, when he was celebrated alongside Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek in the exhibition Rainbow, sugarbag and moon, which was curated by Margie West, who was the curator of Aboriginal art and material culture at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory at the time.
Aboriginal art market
There is a long history of bark paintings in Western Arnhem Land. Some of the more ancient bark paintings are no longer with us. Most pieces were originally made for ceremonial purposes and then discarded soon after. Keeping these paintings was not a major priority for the members of the Arnhem Land community when they were first created, partially due to the inconvenience of keeping them with their nomadic lifestyle. It is evident that this attitude towards bark paintings has drastically changed over the years, and a greater appreciation for their importance has been highlighted. In the early 1960s, a more youthful aspect of bark paintings started to emerge when artists such as Yirawala became recognized. Yirawala had a new sense of inventiveness that changed the game for many future Aboriginal artists. He was later deemed the "Picasso of Arnhem Land." By the late 1970s and 1980s, other prominent artists such as Bardayal "Lofty" Nadjamerrek, Mick Kubarkku and George Milpurrurru began painting on a much more grand scale in order to accommodate for the market in Aboriginal art. Mick Kubarkku, along with various other artists such as John Mawurndjul, are credited with creating some of the largest Aboriginal bark paintings of all time.
The processes of painting
There are many different painting techniques that are required to successfully create traditional Aboriginal art styles. A very common element in these bark paintings is the use of rarrk. Senior artists often require the help from more novice painters when creating this tedious rarrk design. In order to paint the rarrk design, a special paint brush is required. This extremely fine paint brush is made from the long central fibers in the water reed called manyilk. It is crucial for the artist to have a steady hand when painting the rarrk design, which can be much harder for the senior artists. This slow and careful process is called yalmo work. Many senior artists have been forced to retire the skill of painting rarrk due to the difficulty of pure steadiness. For example, Mick Kubarkku recalls the time when he was younger and first learning how to create the traditional rarrk design. "I saw my father doing the rarrk for the Mardayin ceremony and tried to do it myself with my back all doubled over, I ended up being better than any of them at it. They gave me a job in the Mardayin ceremony to paint some rank. When they all saw me doing it they said 'wow', he's got the hang of it. 'You've left us behind my son,' they said to me (in Garde 1997: n.p.)." Mick Kubarrku was fifteen years old when he first learned the skill from his father, and he used this knowledge to teach future generations about the importance of rarrk and the ceremonial meanings behind it. Many of his works rely on fine cross hatching to constitute the rarrk. The highly esteemed pure white pigment used for fine cross hatching is collected by hand and said to be mined and traded from a sacred site. It's said to be the feces of the rainbow serpent, Ngalyod.
Painting style
Kubarkku's distinguished works are recognizable by their combined usage of bands of traditional rarrk and accents of dotting. The dotting technique used by Kubarkku in his paintings and sculptures originated from the techniques and stylistic conventions of Arnhem Land rock art paintings. Following in the footsteps of the majority of Kuninjku artists, however, Kubarkku gradually shifted towards rarrk as his primary artistic device in his paintings over the course of his career.
Kubarkku carries on the cave-art tradition of some of the earliest painters in Aboriginal Australia while bringing his own distinct style to his work. His painting style is "rugged and individual", featuring his own style of cross hatching individual form the popular rarrk design. Many artists across Western Arnhem Land utilize this rarrk style in their pieces to illustrate the cultural importance of the Madayin ceremony. Yet, Kubarkku paints in a his cross-hatching in a looser design, utilizing an uneven form of lines emulating the rock marking found near where he lives.
The crosshatching are typically vertical and horizontal lines of no pattern, sloped across each other and interlaced with black dots. Kubarkku also primarily features figures in his work, adorned with large, uneven dots on the hands and feet, heads, and backbones. He also often features figures that have a white face completely covered in black dots and spirit figures with strongly angled joints. It is also common for him not to include facial features on his figures, particularly omitting eyes.
Reflecting his upbringing, in which he had relatively little contact with white people prior to the establishment of Maningrida after the Second World War, Kubarkku adhered to a traditionalist perspective when it came to his painting style. Like many of his peers from traditional Arnhem Land communities, Kubarkku learned about artistic and cultural knowledge from his father, Ngindjalakku. Kubarkku's art features a style that evokes traditional rock art paintings—a consistent pattern among many of his contemporaries such as Bardayal Nadjamerrek, Anchor Kulunba, Peter Marralwanga and Crusoe Kuningbal.
The content of his paintings is a continued tradition of the stories that the older cave-artists depicted. He features stories about various important Oenpelli sprits, including the important Mimih spirits and their emergence from the rock country to bring their influence to Western Arnhem Land. He also depicts important spirits and gods such as The Rainbow Serpent, Kodjok Bamdjelk, the pandanus spirit, and the lightning spirit.
Kubarkku worked with other mediums apart from just bark paintings, including three dimensional carvings that depicted mimih spirits, and Yawk Yawk mermaid spirits.Towards the end of his life, he also created paintings that showcased aspects of cosmology that were in line with Kunwinjku conventions.
Influence of Mick Kubarkku's upbringing on his work