“We wasn’t allowed to go to school, we wasn’t allowed to get paid money. We worked for flour, sugar, tea. Rations! We went on strike and we become equal. We become recognised as human beings.” – Nyaparu (William) Gardiner

Apart from all this social and historical context, it is clear from this exhibition of Gardiner’s work that his aesthetic is a triumph. His skewwhiff landscapes – detailed here, gestural there – are dreamily conceived and executed, and his figures of odd anatomic proportions often blend into or become the landscape.

For Gardiner, who created almost all of his life’s work at Spinifex Hill Studios between 2014 and 2018, this aesthetic was developed, refined and eventually flourished as appreciation and recognition for his art grew. These years were a time when his body, eyesight and memory were not serving him as faithfully as they had, but from his mind and brush he teased out a powerful, original vision that captured the phenomenal changes he experienced and witnessed in his lifetime.

His contributions to Tarnanthi 2019 are a showcase from these remarkable years and a legacy that will hopefully incite his deserved acclaim.

- Greg Taylor

AGSA
Friday 1 June, 2020
Exhibition
18 October 2019 – 27 January 2020
Art Fair
18–20 October 2019

General enquiries:
(08) 9172 1699
mail@spinifexhillstudio.com.au