WALANGARI KARNTAWARRA ARTIST PAINTER
CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS
LEVEL ONE OPEN GALLERY & ART MELBOURNE MAY 24 to 27
Colin Walangari Karntawarra
McCormack is an Australian Aboriginal elder from Alice Springs who now lives
and works in Sydney. He is an international award winning "Central Western
Desert" painter and his colourful and spellbinding works tell the traditional
Dreaming Stories of the world's oldest living culture.
Walangari's work has been
exhibited extensively both in Australia and internationally. He uses his art as
a means of cross-cultural communication and he is dedicated to improving the
lot of his people.Multi talented, he is also
a gifted musician, teacher, public speaker and performer with a wonderful stage
presence.
Born in 1961, Walangari is
of the Arrernte, Luritja, Walpiri, Yankuntjatjarra, Pintubi, Anmatjerre and
Alyawarre peoples of the Central and Western Desert.His early childhood was
spent living a traditional lifestyle in the Australian outback. His direct
family line includes the famous water colourist Albert Namatjira and two of the
founding fathers of the Papunya Tula movement, Clifford Possum and Paddy
Carroll.
Walangari has two university
degrees and has held many executive positions and directorships of various
Aboriginal Councils. He chaired CAAMA (the Central Australian Aboriginal Media
Association), the first Aboriginal owned radio station and was a director of
the first Aboriginal television station, Imparja. He is committed to helping
ensure that the voice of Aboriginal Australia is heard.Walangari's life and
paintings have been featured in many television documentaries and publications
including the "International Artist" magazine.The National Gallery of
Australia has acquired one of his early works.
While his paintings tell the
traditional stories of his people and feature the iconography of the
"Western Desert", Walangari uses a fuller colour spectrum and unique
effects to forge a striking path within modern Aboriginal Art.
In 1995 he painted the first
prize for the inaugural Indigenous Surfing Competition sponsored by Billabong
and Coca Cola.
The Australian Museum featured
Walangari in the CD ROM that they produced as part of their "Living
Colour" exhibition in March 2000.
He was commissioned to paint a
work for the Rugby World Cup Paris Exhibition in 2003 and in the same year his
work featured in the annual selling exhibition "Art Paris" in the Carrousel du
Louvre.His work was selected for
inclusion in the 2008 and 2009 Mosman Art Prize exhibitions.
In June 2008 Walangari was awarded the "Green Leaf Award" for artistic
excellence in painting by the United Nations Environment Programme and the
Natural World Museum.
Walangari
was voted the 2010 "Deadly" Visual Artist of the Year.
