Natural earth pigments and natural binder on canvas
120 x 160cm
Bears artist's name, size and Waringarri Aboriginal
Arts catalogue number AP3183, painted in 1990, together with catalogue
number S-2377 to the reverse, and is sold with its original documentation
and notes from the Dreamtime Gallery, 101 Lake Street, Northbridge,
Western Australia.
This painting shows Joondagal country to the east of Turkey Creek, where the
dreaming snake travelled. Doomooriny (meaning any dangerous country) is the
hill where the snake left his urine and people are warned not to go there or
they will get sick. Garloomboony (the place of the spear) is a sharp hill which
can be seen from Turkey Creek. It is a rain stone hill. This means if anyone
picks up a stone from that hill it will make it rain. Balan.gerr is the long
hill on Texas where the snake travelled.
PROVENANCE
Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra, Western Australia
Dreamtime Gallery, Western Australia
Private Collection, Perth
Private Collection, London
EXHIBITED
"Turkey Creek - Rover Thomas, George Mungmung, Jack Britten and Freddy Timms",
July 22 - August 19, 1990, Dreamtime Gallery, Perth, W.A.
While Thomas often paints Gija country, he is a singular artist with a recognizable
style whose abstract shapes condense complex mythological and topographical
information into simple elements. He leaves large stretches of the painting
plain, having an unconstrained sense of space -a rare thing in Aboriginal art.
In spite of its terse or bare properties, Thomas's work cannot accurately be
termed 'minimalist' because it is never empty of content.(Judith Ryan in "Images
of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley", NGV publication, 1993)
This painting was executed the year that Rover Thomas, together with Trevor
Nickolls, represented Australia at the Venice Biennale.
