Жон Мавурджул: Австралияның қазіргі заманғы абориген суретшісі

Contemporary Aboriginal Australian artist

John Mawurndjul (born 1951) is a highly regarded Australian contemporary Indigenous artist. He uses traditional motifs in innovative ways to express spiritual and cultural values, He is especially known for his distinctive and innovative creations based on the traditional cross hatching style of bark painting technique known as rarrk.

Mawurndjul was born on 31 December 1951 in Mumeka, a traditional camping ground for members of the Kurulk clan, on the Mann River, about south of Maningrida. He is a member of the Kuninjku people of West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and grew up with only occasional contact with non indigenous people and culture. Born in the bush south of Maningrida, Mawurndjul has based his life on Kurulk clan lands that stretch between the Liverpool, Mann and Tomkinson Rivers. This tract of sparsely populated tropical woodland is some 500 kilometres east of Darwin and accessible by dirt road only during the dry season. Steeped in ancestral narratives and abundant in plant and animal life, the area features ancient rock art galleries that skirt the northern rim of the Arnhem Plateau. he was living a traditional lifestyle at an outstation near Maningrida, still painting and hunting. Under Njiminjuma’s watch, Mawurndjul 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.

Throughout his career Mawurndjul has focused on the rarrk form as a key element in his work. As a young man Mawurndjul produced hair thin lines of crosshatching in his more figurative works. These grid structures and the occasional exposures of the under layers of paint create a bir'yin' ("brilliance," "shining," "shimmering") effect, a quality of reminiscent of wangarr marr, or ancestral power. Later he produced paintings of Ngalyod that showed its body with dazzling zigzags of colour. Some early works show detailed compositions with Ngalyod encircling other Djang and pulling them into the ground. Mawurndjul's later work also includes circle shapes on top of the rarrk pattern, creating an visual effect that seems to make these circles "float" or even form figures with the grid that encapsulate more complex meanings. and elder brother Jimmy Njiminjuma In 1979, Mawurndjul began painting for the market, in which much of his works 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). Two examples of these early works are Ngaldadmurrng saratoga (1979) and Ngalyod, the Rainbow Serpent at Dilebang (c.1979). Some of his inspiration draws from Yirawala, Midjawmidjaw, Paddy Compass, and other artists. Mawurndjul also takes strong inspiration from various sacred places. Mawurndjul before he starts new works will look across the Kurulk clan estate for inspiration. Over Mawurndjul's career he has employed many different techniques, some from his culture and others he has created himself. In the beginning of his career Mawurndjul stuck to his roots through creating many images of important figures in Aboriginal art such as the rainbow serpent Ngalyod. In later years he has emphasized a "geometric aesthetic", using Mardayin ceremony body paintings in his works and making them his own. In fact, because the contemporary art world has started to consider his work as such, Mawurndjul clarified that this geometric experimentation was not in attempts to stray from traditional Madayin ceremonies, but to avoid using designs that would uncover their sacred and secret meanings in his works that are produced for the market. While painting on bark has been Mawurndjul’s primary medium, the artist has also produced many figurative carvings and lorrkon (hollow log coffins), bringing them to life with his finely painted imagery, and he has forayed briefly into printmaking. Throughout the 90s, Mawurundjul's work was included in major exhibitions displaying Aboriginal Australian art, most notably, Dreamings in New York (1988), 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). Also in 2000, his work was featured at the Sydney Biennale. Crossing Country looked at the history of western Arnhem Land's artists and how they communicated and inspired each other. This exhibition showcased places of special cultural significance called kunred, along with the sacred places, spirits, and various animals that are integral to his artwork, has been developed under the leadership of the artist himself, and is described in both Kuninjku and English. This was the first major exhibition of his work in Australia. This made Mawurndjul the first Australian artist to have recceived a retrospective at two foremost museums in Europe. John Mawurndjul: I Am the Old and the New combines various works of art from both national and international collections from the past 40 years. As the lead of this exhibition, Mawurndjul describes and organizes the pieces by kunred which are special areas of cultural significance in his opinion. Additionally, this exhibition is noted to be the first time the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney has held an entirely bilingual exhibition. Mawurndjul's interactions with France were facilitated by Apolline Kohen, the French speaking arts adviser at Maningrida Arts and Culture, who was able to lobby on his behalf for his commission mural to be included in the bookshop of the MQBJC. In 2003, Mawurndjul was awarded the prestigious Clemenger Contemporary Art Award at the National Gallery of Victoria, recognizing his significant contributions to contemporary Indigenous art in Australia. 2003 also saw Mawurndjul named by Australian Art Collector magazine as one of the country's 50 most collectible artists. His works have been singled out for praise by many critics, including Art Gallery of New South Wales senior curator Hetti Perkins, and artist Danie Mellor. In 2010, Mawurndjul became a Member of the Order of Australia. This was because of his work in preserving the Aboriginal culture and artistic style through his work.