< > Artists from Utopia: 3 July – 31 July 2009 AT Conway Street, London
The great international fame of the painter Emily Kame Kngwarreye has made her home, the Aboriginal community of Utopia, perhaps the most celebrated in Australia. Her well-deserved reputation has, though, tended to obscure the achievements of some of the other artists from the area. The small settlement, 300 kilometres east of Alice Springs has, for three generations, been a centre of extraordinary artistic creativity.
This exhibition brings together the work of four of the most exciting contemporary Utopia artists: Nancy Petyarr (1934 -), her daughter Elizabeth Kunoth Kngwarreye (1961 -), her son-in-law, Cowboy Loy Pwerle (1941 -), and his daughter, Genevieve Kemarr Loy (1982 -).
Although each of the artists has their own very distinctive style, their works also share a certain common aesthetic – rich, subtle and allusive. Using tiny twigs (or satay sticks) to apply the paint, they strew their canvases with thousands of dancing dots, like grains of desert sand or the stars of the night sky. In their rhythms and richness they reflect both the greatness and interconnectedness of the cosmos.
This exhibition brings together the work of four of the most exciting contemporary Utopia artists: Nancy Petyarr (1934 -), her daughter Elizabeth Kunoth Kngwarreye (1961 -), her son-in-law, Cowboy Loy Pwerle (1941 -), and his daughter, Genevieve Kemarr Loy (1982 -).
Although each of the artists has their own very distinctive style, their works also share a certain common aesthetic – rich, subtle and allusive. Using tiny twigs (or satay sticks) to apply the paint, they strew their canvases with thousands of dancing dots, like grains of desert sand or the stars of the night sky. In their rhythms and richness they reflect both the greatness and interconnectedness of the cosmos.