Kudditji Kngwarreye

Kudditji Kngwarreye, also known as "Goob", (1938 – 23 January 2017) was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. He was the brother through kinship of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Like his skin sister Emily, he was one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary indigenous Australian art.

Life Kngwarreye was born and lived in the Anmatyerre language group at Alhalkere in the Utopia community, located north-east of Alice Springs. Kngwarreye had a traditional bush upbringing and worked as a stockman and mine worker. He was also a traditional custodian of many important Dreamings of the land, and men's business ceremonial sites located in his country at Utopia Station.

Kngwarreye witnessed the success of Albert Namatjira, and experienced the 1967 referendum. Kngwarreye and his countrymen had their land claim approved in 1979 and throughout the years he felt the effects of different government policies on Indigenous people of the Northern Territory. Kngwarreye started painting around 1986 and continued painting until 2015. He participated in many international exhibitions and became known for depictions of his Dreamings; their abstract imagery, bold colour use, and intuitive interplay with space and form has cemented his name in the Aboriginal art scene.

Over the years, the Anmatyerre elder's Dreamings evolved into juxtaposed colour fields in both composition and hue. Harsh or soft, his style mapped out the creation, his country, and his traditional Dreamings.

In 2006, Kudditji was named as one of the top 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Art Collector magazine.

In 2013, Kate Owen Gallery presented the exhibition "The Master Returns"a long-awaited new body of work by Kudditji and his first since overcoming a difficult battle with illness. Gallery owner and director Geoff Henderson commented at the time, "Quite simply, this is the most powerful and compelling body of works I’ve seen from him".

Art style Acrylic paintings were introduced to Utopia in 1988/89 by Rodney Gooch and others of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). An exhibition of some of these artists' work, organised by CAAMA, called "A Summer Project", where Kngwarreye's work received immediate attention from critics. This attention coincided with the worldwide art boom that occurred at this time.

The predominant Aboriginal style, developed with assistance from art teacher Geoffrey Bardon at the Papunya community in 1971, featured many similarly sized dots carefully lying next to each other in distinct patterns. Instead, members of the Utopia community were encouraged by Mike Mitchell of Muk Muk Fine Art (now Mitchell Fine Art). After workshopping and trialing, the quintessential Kngwarreye brushwork emerged, which Kngwarreye further refined to create his own original artistic style.

Like many of the desert artists, he mastered the use of acrylic paint on canvas. His use of colour combined with simple shapes tell the stories of one of his inherited ancestral totems - the Emu Ancestors, their travels and teachings depicting various interpretations of the Emu Dreaming sites and ceremonies associated with men's business.

Initially, the highly intuitive and gestural painting method for which he became known was not welcomed by galleries. Instead, he was encouraged to paint in the fashionable style of the time, executing works with overt iconography, figurative elements and detailed infill. However, after witnessing the success of Utopian artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who catapulted onto the Australian and International Art scene using a technique similar to his, Kngwarreye resumed his exploration of the abstract.

From early 2003, Kngwarreye began to experiment with paint to eradicate the pointillist style altogether and use a heavily loaded paint brush to sweep broadly across the canvas in stages, similar to the western landscape plane. These paintings were romantic images of his country, accentuating the colour and form of the landscape, including the depth of the sky in the raining season and in the summer heat.

While the early body of this work was admired by a few, it was not well received at the time. Today, Kngwarreye's works have a national and international following. He has been represented in major exhibitions and has gained worldwide recognition for his traditional depictions of his dreamings.

For international collectors of contemporary art, Kngwarreye quickly became an obvious addition. Collectors saw mastery in his technique and appreciated his floating fields of luminous colour. Whilst many international visitors compared him to the great American abstract impressionist, Mark Rothko, Kngwarreye was totally unaware of any similarities. He was just painting his country, his Dreamings, his way.

Another artist to have been positively influenced by Kudditji Kngwarreye is Philip Hunter Lindsay, a Sydney-based landscape and portrait artist and finalist in the Art Gallery of New South Wales 2011 Sir John Sulman Prize. Philip claims to have taken inspiration from Kngwarreye, particularly his early life living as a stockman in the remote parts of central Australia. Philip Hunter Lindsay has painted over a dozen unique, sought after, colorful portraits of Kudditji Kngwarreye over a decade of his admiration for the unique, Australian artist.

Awards In 2006, Kngwarreye was named as one of the top 50 most collectible artists in Australia by Art Collector magazine.