Indigenous Art - New Art Movement In The

World Today

Prior to 2008 no Aboriginal

indigenous art painting had sold

for more than $800,000. Then in

May 2008 Emily Kame

Kngwarreye’s Earth Creation

fetched $1.056 million at auction.

From there records continued to

be made and Aboriginal Art has

now gained immense popularity in

Europe and the US. However art

investors can still buy Australian

indigenous art and find

collectable artists in the $5,000 -

$10,000 range from reputable

online galleries such as Art to Art.

According to Aboriginal belief, all

life - Human, Animal, Bird and

Fish is part of one vast

unchanging network of

relationships which can be

traced to the Great Spirit

ancestors of the Dreamtime.

Each artist has a Dreamtime

custodianship which maps the

Australian continent, connecting

Aboriginal people to each other

and to the land.

All Aboriginal paintings have an

underlying narrative based on

mythological creation stories

referred to as Dreaming’s (or a

Dreaming in the singular). Yam

Dreaming, Possum Dreaming,

Rain Dreaming, and Fire

Dreaming are all stories that

describe how things came to be as

they are today at specific places in

the landscape.

“This is the significance of

Aboriginal paintings they are,

each and every one, an act of

storytelling, which renews the

world and reaffirms the power of

traditional culture." - Paddy

Carroll Tjungurrayi

Early works were mostly done by

men (but also some women), and

used traditional symbols such as

concentric circles, animal tracks

and heavy dotted forms. Then by

the 1990s, women such as

Kngwarreye broke away from this

stylistic precedent with bold

acrylic paintings that forever

broadening the definition of

Aboriginal painting.

Acrylic paintings serve as a new

form to tell the story of Aboriginal

life. They represent a new context

of interaction between indigenous

and western societies. Through

modern art the Aboriginal people

are able to introduce and express

their culture to the world.

Kudditji Kngwarreye (pronounced

Kubbitji) is the brother of the late

Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

As an Anmatyerre Elder and

custodian of many important

Dreaming stories, his paintings

accentuate the colour and form of

the earth, landscape, sky and

summer heat of his country and

show the iconography of his

ancestral totem, the Emu and emu

waterholes and male ceremonial

sites. In January 2007, Kudditji was

included in the list of Australia’s 50

most collectible artists and declared

one of the top 10 most collectible

Aboriginal artists, based on future

price growth potential.

Minnie Pwerle is one of Australia’s

best known Indigenous artists. Her

commercial art career began in her

late 80’s (only ten years before her

death), when she began painting

bold and deeply mesmerising

depictions of her Bush Melon

Dreaming. She uses circular shapes

to symbolise bush melon, bush

tomato, northern wild orange and

other bushfood.

Another body of work uses free-

flowing and parallel lines in a

pendulous outline to depict the body

painting designs used in women’s

ceremonies. Minnie’s art is

displayed in many public collections

at National and State Art Galleries

across Australia and formed the

basis for a series of designer rugs.

Both Kudditji Kngwarreye and

Minnie Pwerle have substantial

bodies of collectable works. These

are other collectble works by

Indigenous artists are now available

from online galleries like Art to Art.

“I think they [the Australian

aborigines] are more appreciative of

people learning about their culture

through the artwork.” Franchesca

Cubillo, Curator Museum and Art

Gallery of the Northern Territory in

Darwin, Australia.

Ultimately art is to be enjoyed

and appreciated. You can buy

Australian indigenous art for

that purpose or you collect

indigenous art as an

investment. Start with one

piece that you love and go

from there.

Contact us

130 Bulleen Road,

Balwyn North

VIC 3104 Australia

P. 03 9859 6040

M. 0413 945 249

enquiries@arttoart.com.au

http://arttoart.com.au/