UNTITLED, 1992
EMILY KAME KNGWARREYE
synthetic polymer paint on linen
120.0 x 91.0 cm
bears inscription verso: artist’s name and Delmore gallery cat. 92F036
Commissioned by Delmore Gallery, via Alice Springs, Northern Territory in June 1992
Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
Private collection, United Kingdom, acquired from the above in 1992
Phillips, London, 5 November 2020, lot 25
Private collection, Melbourne
Renowned for her colourful and vibrant paintings, Emily Kngwarreye chronicled on canvas the ever-changing desert country of her homeland Alhalkere. Located at the western edge of Utopia this triangular shaped country was where Emily was born and where she lived in the traditional ways of the eastern Anmatyerre, following a way of life that had continued unchanged from long before European presence. Her mark making recorded the seasonal variations, sometime subtle, often dramatic, of the harsh desert environment and the explosion of growth that occurred after rain.
Untitled, 1992 records the cyclical change as desert plants bloom after summer rains. The work is atypical through its repeated semi-circular motif reminiscent of the paintings from Western desert communities further west. These motifs most likely representing the bodies of seated women participating in a ceremony at the artist’s community. Painted in June 1992, with its cascading layers of red, yellow, pink, purple and orange dots, this work is a celebration of nature at its most potent.
CRISPIN GUTTERIDGE