Kudditji Kngwarreye Biography
View Kudditji Kngwarreye paintings
Kudditji Kngwarreye was the tribal skin brother of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Like many men of his generation, he lived a traditional bush life as a child. Later, he worked as a stockman and miner and was a greatly respected elder of the Anmatyerre people.
Born in 1928 to the Anmatyerre tribe, he did not begin painting until 1986, when he was encouraged to paint in the common pointillist style associated with the Utopia region, executing works with detailed dots and infill. In the mid 1990s, his style radically departed when he began to use a heavily loaded brush and a bright palette, sweeping broadly across the canvas with progressive blocks of stippled colour, sectioned alongside each other. These windows of saturated colour created within his instinctive compositions, are both innovative and exciting.
His works are held in major international and national private and corporate collections. In 2006, Kudditji was nominated for Art Collector Magazine’s 50 Most Collectable Artists.
Kudditji was well known for his wonderful sense of humour and he enjoyed life to the full. Sadly, he passed away on 23 January, 2017. He leaves a great legacy in his art.
COLLECTIONS
Araluen Art Centre, Alice SpringsMacquarie University, NSW
R. M. Barokh Antiques, Los Angeles, California
Guilleman and Sordello Collection, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014 Earth + Sky, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
2011 Kudditji Kngwarreye, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2010 Kudditji Kngwarreye, Palya Proper Fine Arts, Alice Springs
2008 30 Emu Dreamings, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2008 My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2006 Masterwork, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2006 My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2006 Arken Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen
2005 Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Danks Street, Sydney
2005 New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2005 Colours in Country, Art Mob, Hobart, Tasmania
2004 My Country, New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
2004 My Country, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2004 Waterhole Aboriginal Art, Sofitel Wentworth Hotel Exhibition, Sydney
2003 New Paintings, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne
1999 New Paintings, Chapel off Chapel, Melbourne
1992 Tjukurrpa, Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, Switzerland
1991 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008 Black & White: Inspired by Landscape, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2005 Big Country, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2005 Fresh from the Central Desert, Canberra Grammar School, Canberra
2004 Two Senior Men, Art Mob Gallery, Tasmania
2004 Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago
2004 Spirit of Colour, Depot Gallery, Sydney
2002 The Contemporaries, Contemporary Artspace, Brisbane
1992 Tjukurrpa, Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel, Switzerland
1991 Central Australian Aboriginal Art & Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
1990 Art Dock, Contemporary Art from Australia, Noumea, New Caledonia
