{"product_id":"john-mawurndjul-am-australian-1952-2024","title":"John Mawurndjul AM, Australian (1952 - 2024)","description":"\u003cp\u003eNgarrbek (Echidna)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNatural earth pigments on bark\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e122cm x 40cm (irregular)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProvenance: Maningrida Arts and Crafts Cat No MAW33\/31\u003cbr\u003eMary Macha, Perth.\u003cbr\u003eAcquired from Mary Macha by the current vendor from the above circa 1980's, where it has remained ever since.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLegendary Perth-based art dealer Mary Macha was engaged with Indigenous art for almost fifty years. She played a critical role in the development of Aboriginal art in Western Australia, firstly in the government sector and subsequently as a private dealer. Her clients included Alistair McAlpine (Lord McAlpine) and Robert Holmes a Court. She was the key player in the development of what became known as the East Kimberley School of art and formed a close relationship with many key artists, especially Paddy Jamanji and Rover Thomas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBalang Nakurulk-John Mawurndjul AM (1952–2024) was the most highly regarded and recognised of our Australian bark painters.\u003cbr\u003eBalang was born in 1952 in Mumeka, a traditional camping ground for members of the Kurulk clan, on the Mann River, about 50 kilometres south of Maningrida. He was a member of the Kuninjku people of West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and grew up immersed in traditional life with extended family, having only occasional contact with non-indigenous people and culture. Born in the bush south of Maningrida, Balang based his life on Kurulk clan lands, that stretch between the Liverpool, Mann and Tomkinson Rivers and moved between seasonal camps along these rivers with family. This tract of sparsely populated tropical woodland is some 500 kilometres east of Darwin and accessible only by dirt road during the dry season.\u003cbr\u003eBalang was introduced to ritual painting in 1969 by his father Anchor Kulunba (c. 1920 – 1996). Balang's art practices began through his participation in the Mardayin ceremony, where he learned to paint rarrk on bodies and ceremonial objects. In ensuing years, under the instruction of his older brother Jimmy Njiminjuma (1947-2004) and Peter Marralwanga (1916-1987), he became a proficient bark painter developing expertise unique to this form of practice: the harvesting and preparation of the stringy-bark, cartographic knowledge of sacred ochre deposits and skills to grind, mix and fix their coloured pigments, and the fashioning of sedge rushes into delicate single-strand brushes. Under Njiminjuma's watch, Balang was also introduced to long-established Kuninjku conventions dictating subject matter and its iconography, the characteristics of which have been explored at length by anthropologist Luke Taylor in his pioneering analysis of Western Arnhem Land art. According to Luke Taylor, Balang has played a large role in redefining Kuninjku artistic tradition by incorporating ceremonial motifs into contemporary art.\u003cbr\u003eGrowing up during the late 20th century, Balang experienced an era when the government of Australia was beginning to have a greater reach into Arnhem Land; a phenomenon that influenced his art throughout his career.\u003cbr\u003eBalang is known for his exceptional use of ‘rarrk'. which is not simply for decoration, rather, it often makes the viewer feel a little unsure of what they are seeing. The way the lines move and shift, gives the artwork a sense of motion or flickering, which draws people in and makes them observe more deeply. This kind of visual confusion actually connects to how Kuninjku people understand their ceremonies, where not everything is meant to be seen clearly or understood right away. Balang's use of rarrk marked a major turning point in bark painting. Mawurndjul was the first bark painter to successfully challenge the hegemony of the Desert and Kimberley styles within the terms of contemporary.\u003cbr\u003eBalang’s 2018–2019 ground-breaking retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary art, John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New, showcased his innovative use of rarrk (crosshatching) and his focus on sacred sites in Arnhem Land. Critics noted that his work challenges the dichotomy between traditional and contemporary art, positioning him as a pivotal figure in redefining Indigenous Australian art within the global contemporary art scene.\u003cbr\u003eBalang was tutored in rarrk, 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. In 1979, Balang began painting for the market, in which much of his work were small bark paintings that depicted animals and spirits, including bambirl (echidna), ngaldadmurrng (saratoga fish), birlmu (large barramundi fish), mimih spirits, yawkyawk and Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent). Some of his early inspiration draws from Yirawala, Peter Maralwanga, Midjawmidjaw, Paddy Compass, and other artists.\u003cbr\u003eDuring the 1980’s he began producing larger and more complex works, and in 1988 he won the Rothmans Foundation Award. 1988 also marked the year in which Balang's worked gained heavy momentum being displayed in many exhibitions in Australia and overseas.\u003cbr\u003eThroughout the 90s, Mawurundjul's work was included in major exhibitions displaying Aboriginal Australian art, most notably, Dreamings in New York (1988), Magiciens de la Terre in Paris, France (1989), 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).\u003cbr\u003eIn 2000, Balang'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” Also in 2000, his work was featured at the Sydney Biennale.\u003cbr\u003eIn 2004, twenty-two of Balang's works were curated by Hetti Perkins in Crossing Country at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, in attempts to detach common perception of market engagements with contemporary Aboriginal art, as well the use of bark as a medium. Crossing Country looked at the history of western Arnhem Land's artists and how they communicated and inspired each other.\u003cbr\u003eAfter completing a major work for Musée du Quai Branly, Balang was recognised by French president, Jacques Chirac, as the 'maestro' at the museum's inauguration. He was also famously photographed in front of the Eiffel Tower in Time magazine.\u003cbr\u003eMany other accolades followed, culminating in 2010, when Balang became a Member of the Order of Australia.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© John Mawurndjul\/Copyright Agency, 2025\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Artvisory","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43968728662099,"sku":null,"price":27500.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0013\/5397\/3843\/files\/90008450_Catalog_4IUd081f7L.jpg?v=1769559254","url":"https:\/\/artvisory.com.au\/products\/john-mawurndjul-am-australian-1952-2024","provider":"Artvisory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}