John Mawurndjul

John Mawurndjul (born 1951) is a highly regarded Australian contemporary Indigenous artist. He uses traditional motifs in innovative ways to express spiritual and cultural values, and is especially known for his distinctive and innovative creations based on a traditional cross-hatching style of bark painting technique known as rarrk.

Life

Mawurndjul was born on 31 December 1951 in Mumeka, a traditional camping ground for members of the Kurulk clan, on the Mann River, about south of Maningrida. He is a member of the Kuninjku people of West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and grew up with only occasional contact with non-indigenous people and culture.

he was living a traditional lifestyle at an outstation near Maningrida, still painting and hunting.

Art

He was tutored in ''rarrk'', a traditional painting technique using fine cross-hatching and infill, in the 1970s by his uncle Peter Marralwanga and elder brother Jimmy Njiminjuma and began producing small paintings on bark. During the 1980s he began producing larger and more complex works, and in 1988 won a Rothmans Foundation Award.

During the 1990s his work was included in major exhibitions dealing with Aboriginal Australian art, such as ''Dreamings'' in New York (1988), ''Crossroads'' in Japan (1992), ''Aratjara: Art of the first Australians'' in Germany and the UK (1993–1994), and ''In the heart of Arnhem Land'' in France (2001).

In 2000, Mawurndjul's work was amongst that of eight individual and collaborative groups of Indigenous Australian artists shown in the prestigious Nicholas Hall at the Hermitage Museum in Russia. The exhibition received a positive reception from Russian critics, one of whom wrote: "This is an exhibition of contemporary art, not in the sense that it was done recently, but in that it is cased in the mentality, technology and philosophy of radical art of the most recent times. No one, other than the Aborigines of Australia, has succeeded in exhibiting such art at the Hermitage.

Also in 2000, his work was featured at the Sydney Biennale.

His work was subsequently the subject of a major retrospective in Basel, Switzerland (2005) and in the Sprengel Museum in Hanover, Germany (2006). In 2018–2019 an exhibition of his work was shown in the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and afterwards as part of Tarnanthi 2018 at the Art Gallery of South Australia. This was the first major exhibition of his work in Australia.

Legacy

Mawurndjul has been a major influence on contemporary Kuninjku artists, and he has tutored his wife, Kay Lindjuwanga and daughter Anna Wurrkidj, who are now accomplished painters. He has created a whole school of artists and led an Australian art movement.

Recognition and awards

2003 saw Mawurndjul named by Australian Art Collector magazine as one of the country's 50 most collectible artists. His works have been singled out for praise by many critics, including Art Gallery of New South Wales senior curator Hetti Perkins, and artist Danie Mellor.

Australia Council for the Arts

The Australia Council for the Arts is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement.

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Collections

Mawurndjul is represented in many major public collections, including:

*Art Gallery of New South Wales
*Art Gallery of South Australia
*Art Gallery of Western Australia
*Artbank
*Ballarat Fine Art Gallery
*Djomi Museum, Maningrida
* Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
*Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
* Museum of Contemporary Art
*National Gallery of Australia
*National Gallery of Victoria
*National Maritime Museum
*Queensland Art Gallery

See also

*List of Indigenous Australian visual artists

References

Further reading

*
Exhibition John Mawurndjul ''I am the old and the new''
Touring exhibition, 2018-2019
John Mawurndjul
Art Gallery of New South Wales
John Mawurndjul
Maningrida Arts & Culture
Where to buy or view John Mawurndjul's work
Aboriginal Art Directory

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mawurndjul, John
Australian Aboriginal artists
People from the Northern Territory
Living people
1951 births
Australian contemporary artists
Artists from the Northern Territory