BARNEY ELLAGA - SUGAR BAG
BARNEY ELLAGA
SUGAR BAG, 2004
128 x 180 cm
Synthetic Polymer Paint on Belgian Linen
REGION
Alawa
PROVENANCE
Muk Muk Aboriginal Art, NT
Waterhole Art, NSW
Private Collection, NSW
Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Waterhole Art and images of Barney painting the artwork
STORY
"Sugar Bag is wild honey. This story is about how that honey got all over Dum Ngun Nyata Nyana, Cox River Country. This is all about how that wild bee travelled spreading that honey everywhere. Good bush tucker."
Barney’s paintings are pure abstract works created with brilliant saturated colours, and confident compositions. Ellaga combines imbalance with balance, beautiful harmony with stark contrasts to create works of great impact and power.
However, Ellaga tells us that every line and every mark is all Alawa. That is, he is painting country, his intimate knowledge of his traditional country. Ellaga is a senior law-man within his Alawa community. Ellaga the artist is conveying to his audience that which to him is traditional in a most genuine way, through personal iconography and feeling for colour drawn from instinct, inherited knowledge and love for country and culture.
EXHIBITED
Sofitel Wentworth Sydney Hotel Exhibition, Waterhole Art, June 2004, NSW
ARTIST PROFILE
