JGM Art Autumn Catalogue

JGM ART

‘Mimih Spirit’ sculptures by (from left to right) Susan Marawarr, Samson Bonson x 2, Don Djorlom Canvas is ‘All the Jumu’ by Ngarralja Tommy May

Ngarralja Tommy May (b. 1941) The painting depicts all the waterholes in Tommy May’s country in the Great Sandy Desert. The jilji (sandhills) and important waterholes (the circles) make an arresting image. The dots represent mangarri (bush tucker) that is collected around these vital lifesustaining waterholes.

Ngarralja Tommy May ‘All The Jumu’, 2005 acrylic on canvas 150 x 210 cm

Andrea Giles (b. 1979) Andrea Giles is a young woman who lives in Tjukurla Community where she is raising her young family.

Andrea grew up in Docker River and Tjukurla. Andrea paints in the traditional way, using brushes and purnu like most Tjukurla Artists, however she has a unique interpretation of form and colour, using dynamic shapes to express her country and culture.

Andrea Giles, ‘Minyma Tjukurla’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 100 x 75 cm (detail above) Pictured on left with ‘Lightning Man’ by Patrick Bitting

Rosie Tasman (b. 1935) Seed Dreaming, 2016, Acrylic on linen, 120 x 150 cm

“This dreaming tells about the special seeds we use for grinding and making powder. The women add water to make a special damper. They put the damper in the coals for cooking. There are many different seeds we collect.�

Napurrurla is the older sister of Molly Napurrurla Tasman. They paint together in Lajamanu. Napurrurla is a tiny lady full of dynamic knowledge about her stories shown in the painting she creates. She is a caring dedicated lady who grew up in the Tanami Desert and walked along her story lines. Her depth of character and hardship she has endured has caused her to produce beautiful creations of Dreamtime using colourful bold linework and dots. Napurrurla is a hard working, busy person. Her love and dedication to Warlpiri Culture and family is born out in the art she creates. This art has been widely exhibited in Australia and overseas.

She was a finalist in the 2010 Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards.

Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi (b. 1935) “This dreaming tells about the bush plums that grow on the trees in our country. The plums are green when they are growing. The women and children collect them when they are black. They gather them to put in the coolamons.”

Nungarrayi is an avid artist and lover of her culture. She is driven to record and preserve, knowing she is fighting against the power of time and the new impeding culture. Nungarrayi loves colour and expression. In her later years her style has changed slightly showing more freedom and use of colour, while years of experience with brushes show skilled execution and technique. Nungarrayi now produces some truly stunning work with heavy bold confident brush work while manipulating a broad range of colour. This artist’s depth of character and life experience is reflected in her work.

Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi, ‘Bush Plum Dreaming’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 120 cm (detail above)

Andrea Giles (b. 1979) Andrea Giles is a young woman who lives in Tjukurla Community where she is raising her young family.

Andrea grew up in Docker River and Tjukurla. Andrea paints in the traditional way, using brushes and purnu like most Tjukurla Artists, however she has a unique interpretation of form and colour, using dynamic shapes to express her country and culture.

Andrea Giles, ‘Minyma Tjukurla’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 75 cm (detail above) Pictured on left with ‘Mimih Spirit’ by Samson Bonson

Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi (b. 1935) This dreaming tells of the hunt for witchetty grubs, which are found all over the country. They are found primarily in the ground and in tree trunks. The women dig them out and place them in their coolamons. When they return to camp, they cook them in the coals of the fire.

Lily Hargraves Nungarrayi, ‘Witchetty Grub Dreaming’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 203 x 117 cm (detail above) Pictured on left with painting by Kitty Malarvie and hollow logs by Susan Marawarr

Kittey Malarvie (b. 1939) Marlarvie’s recent Milkwater series depicts a meditation on the multifaceted play of wind and light across a remarkable place of black soil and water the colour of milk. Painting primarily in ochres of pinks, black, greys and milky whites, the artist translates the language of her country into the gestures and utterances of international abstraction.

The ‘Luga’ series of works comprises layers of circle motifs, dotting and intersecting lines which map the country along the river banks and interpret the transition of the seasons across a land that is flooded and dry by turns, leaving behind the patterned ground of “luga” cracked mud.

(opposite) Kittey Malarvie, ‘Milkwater’, 2016, natural ochre on canvas, 76 x 76 cm (top left) Kittey Malarvie, ‘Luga’, 2016, natural ochre on paper, 77 x 58 cm (top right) Kittey Malarvie, ‘Luga’, 2016, natural ochre on paper, 77 x 58 cm

Mona Nangala (b. 1938) Mona has used the natural designs of tali or sand hills that predominate in the country around Papunya as the inspiration for this painting. The tali form waves across the desert.

(above) Mona Nangala, ‘Tali’ (detail), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 60 cm (left) Mona Nangala, ‘Tali’ (detail), 2016, acrylic on canvas, 90 x 75 cm Pictured on right with Mimih Spirit by Seymour Wulida and boomerang by Pampila Hanson Boxer

Nyarapayi Giles (b. 1941) Nyarapayi’s paintings depict a site called ‘Warmarungu’ near Karku, her birthplace. This is where the ochres are collected for ceremonial use. In the dreaming times many emus went down into the the rockholes and some took the form of trees. The ochre is excavated in a special way using a stick, and Nyarapayi paints the emu spirits which are released during this ceremony to again take physical form. Her paintings show the travels of the emus in the dreaming times and the rockholes they stopped at.

Nyarapayi Giles, ‘Warmarungu’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 106.5 x 76 cm, (detail above)

Kitty Napanangka Simon (b. 1948) This dreaming story is about Napangardi and Napanangka women dancing. They set off dancing from Minamina, and went to Wakurlpu area. They slept there and danced and danced. At dawn the next morning they went to Yanmajirdikirlangu area. They slept there and then went dancing far to the east.

After that, holding dancing sticks, they danced to the west. There they threw the dancing sticks to the ground, pointing towards the west, went down into the earth, and returned to Minamina.

Kitty Napanangka Simon, ‘Women’s Dreaming’, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 85 x 50 cm

Carvings Indigenous Australian carving comes in many forms, from carved wooden ‘mimih’ spirits, to hollow logs and boomerangs.

Hailing primarily from Australia’s ‘top end’, all the carvings are painted using natural ochre pigments with patterns and designs that have special significance. Pictured here is a special selection of a few of the carvings currently available at JGM Art. From left to right: Susan Marawarr, ‘Mimih’, 196 x Ø 7 cm Samson Bonson, Mimih’ , 164 x Ø 14 cm Don Djorlom, ‘Mimih’, 148 x Ø 7 cm Patrick Bitting, ‘Lightning Man’, 113x x 40 x 8 cm Susan Marawarr, ‘Lorrkon’, 152 x Ø 14 cm Susan Marawarr, ‘Lorrkon’, 203 x Ø 15 cm Nawurapu Wununmurra, ‘Mokuy’, 200 x Ø18cm Nawurapu Wununmurra, ‘Mokuy’, 142 x Ø12cm Pampila Hanson Boxer, ‘Watarkall’, 86 x 13 x 1 cm