"Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings" Exhibition
gallery nine 5
This event has ended.
The dialectic surrounding Aboriginal Art's assimilation into the Western Art world is rife with questions regarding identity, discrimination and cultural understanding. The balancing act of opening up an aesthetic of long held tradition to an uneducated public speaks to art's assuaging capacity to rise above cultural barrier and reinforce human connectivity. It is Gallery Nine5's pleasure to facilitate this unique experience by presenting Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings including works by artists Yakari Napaltjarri, Lorna Napanangka, and Andrew Spencer Tjapaltjarri as well as other paintings relaying the exceptional aesthetic of Aboriginal tradition.
Initially intended to accompany ceremony, these paintings are used to communicate Aboriginal mythology and identity. Within each matrix of intricate color and pattern resides a particular story or lesson with themes depicting the Aboriginal notion of "dreamtime", an alternative form of time comprised of archetypal happenings in a continuous cycle. These events preside over Aboriginal society connecting the behavior of the present to the ancestral teachings of the past; preserving a belief that the ancestors exist within the depiction. Guarding the secrecy of Aboriginal knowledge, the painters have intentionally omitted certain designs as to not reveal the entire story.
For Aboriginal Culture, Art does not run parallel to society but is rather part of its connective tissue. Its significance can be seen from political dealings between clans to social relations between men and women. Unlike Western culture Aboriginal Art is less concerned with innovation as it is with expressing the culture's learned knowledge. However, this has not prevented the work from getting considerable attention from Europe and America. Indeed, the growing popularity of Aboriginal Art marks a turning point in Aboriginal and Western relations. Preserving an ancestral tradition of 30,000 years, the art is comprised of natural media such as leaves wood, rock and sand. In fact, only recently in Contemporary Aboriginal art has painting on canvas been incorporated into popular practice.
Media
Schedule
from February 06, 2009 to February 26, 2009
Opening Reception on 2009-02-05 from 18:30 to 20:30