LIN ONUS - GUYI RIRRKIYAN MINITJI (FISH IN ROCK POOL)

 LIN ONUS
GUYI RIRRKIYAN MINITJI (FISH IN ROCK POOL),  1993
74 x 49 cm
Illustration board
 
PROVENANCE
Estate of Lin Onus, VICCooee Art Gallery, NSW 
 
STORY
Lin Onus played a pivotal role in the recognition of Aboriginal art as an expression of a contemporary and dynamic living culture. Prior to his premature death at just 47 years of age he was a prominent, strident, yet non-confrontational agent in renegotiating the history of colonial and Aboriginal Australia. His father, Bill Onus, was the founder of the Aboriginal Advancement League in Victoria and a prominent maker of artifacts in Melbourne. As a young Koori growing up, Lin lived in a cultural environment that included exposure to visiting Aboriginal artists, including Albert Namatjira. He began his artistic life assisting his father in decorating artifacts, went on to develop skills working with metal and painting with air brush as a panel beater; and by 1974 he was painting watercolors and photorealist landscapes. In the 1970ā€™s he completed a set of paintings on the first Aboriginal guerilla fighter Mosquito, which holds pride of place on the walls of the Advancement League in Melbourne, to this day.Signed lower left.
 
EXHIBITED
The Collectors Edition, August 2015, Coo-ee Art GalleryCooee Art Gallery at Australian Galleries, April 2016, Australian Galleries Sydney