Artist Profile for Cecily Napanangka Marshall < Back Cecily Napanangka Marshall Cecily Napanangka Marshall ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE CECILY NAPANANGKA MARSHALL - JANGANPA JUKURRA (BRUSH-TAIL POSSUM DREAMING)- ... SOLD AU$1,260.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Cecily Napanangka Marshall ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Galuma Maymuru < Back Galuma Maymuru Galuma Maymuru ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE top Anchor 1 PROFILE Galuma Maymuru ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Angelina Tjaduwa Woods < Back Angelina Tjaduwa Woods Angelina Tjaduwa Woods 1954-2019 ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS Tjauruwa was born in the Great Victoria Desert at Warutjara, a place associated with Minyma Tjilkamata - the Echidna Woman, south of what is now the community of Jamieson (Mantamaru). Up until the winter of 1986, Tjauruwa lived traditionally, possessing only a few iron implements and tin bowls. Her family of seven was discovered in the northern Spinifex by a group revisiting important Men's sites after 25 years. READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE ANGELINA TJADUWA WOODS - PINGKATJA SOLD AU$4,800.00 ANGELINA TJADUWA WOODS - ARTULINGA SOLD AU$3,000.00 ANGELINA TJADUWA WOODS - ILKAWITJA SOLD AU$3,500.00 ANGELINA TJADUWA WOODS - PIRAPI Sold AU$0.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Angelina Tjaduwa Woods 1954-2019 Tjauruwa was born in the Great Victoria Desert at Warutjara, a place associated with Minyma Tjilkamata - the Echidna Woman, south of what is now the community of Jamieson (Mantamaru). Up until the winter of 1986, Tjauruwa lived traditionally, possessing only a few iron implements and tin bowls. Her family of seven was discovered in the northern Spinifex by a group revisiting important Men's sites after 25 years. With her young son on her hip, Tjauruwa first camped at Yakatunya, 90 kilometres south of Tjuntjuntjara. She then followed a moving camp that accompanied a road construction stretching 300 kilometres through the Spinifex Lands, before permanently settling in Tjuntjuntjara in 1989. In 1986, Tjauruwa was estimated to be around 32 years old and was assigned the birth date of 1st July 1954. By 2019, her family remained the last Aboriginal group in the country to make first contact with contemporary Australia. Adapting to her new environment, Tjauruwa faced profound changes. She formed relationships within an extended network of kin, transitioning from a life primarily focused on hunting and gathering to one supported by the community store, with abundant water supplies. Initially, her priority was caring for her mother and uncle in their new circumstances. It was only after her mother's death that Tjauruwa began to paint. At first, she mimicked the techniques of other women, but gradually, the experiences of her previous life and her mother's stories and designs emerged in her paintings, giving rise to a unique Spinifex perspective marked by spectacular style and technique. Tjauruwa became a leading Spinifex artist, with her works included in major awards and collections both in Australia and internationally. ARTIST CV Tjauruwa's extensive participation in group exhibitions highlights her significant presence in the international art scene, showcasing her distinctive Spinifex style across various prestigious venues globally. Group Exhibitions 2022 : MINYMA, Aboriginal and Pacific Arts, Sydney, NSW 2020 :Smart Art, ARTKELCH, Freiburg, Germany Art Paris 2020, ARTKELCH at Art Paris 2020, Paris, France 2019 :Kungakarungkalpa, Short St. Gallery, Broome, Western Australia Explosion, Aboriginal Signature Gallery, Brussels, Belgium Women's Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne 2018 :Spinifex People Spinifex Land - A Collection of Fine Spinifex Indigenous Art, ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore The Women's Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria Ngura Ninti - Knowing Country, Artkelch, Freiburg, Germany Convoking the Genesis - Eurantica, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery, Brussels Wüste - Meer - Schöpfermythen, ArtKelch Gallery at The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum, Cologne, Germany 2017 :Spinifex Arts 20th Anniversary, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA Gems from the Remote Deserts, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Gallery at Parcours des Mondes, Paris Spinifex, Short St. Gallery, Broome, Western Australia 2016 :Pila Nguratja - In Spinifex Country, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne Rawa Nyinanyi- Unbroken, Outstation Gallery, Darwin, NT Exposition Spinifex Arts Project, Aboriginal Signature Estrangin Fine Art, Belgium LORE The Visual Language of Cultural Identity, Raft Artspace, Tasmania Tjungutja – Art of the Spinifex Collaborative, Redot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore Purungu und Narrupa Sammlung, Kunstwerk, Germany, in association with P. & A. Klein and ArtKelch Collections Tjauruwa's works are part of several prominent collections, reflecting the widespread recognition and appreciation of her art: Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, SA (Women's Collaborative) Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich, Germany National Gallery of Australia, Canberra National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC (Women's Collaborative) Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra, ACT (Women's Collaborative) Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, USA (Women's Collaborative) The British Museum, London, England (Women's Collaborative) The Berndt Collection, University of Western Australia The Corrigan Collection, Australia The Lepley Collection, Perth, Western Australia The Sims Dickson Collection, NSW W. & V. McGeoch Collection, Melbourne, VIC Awards 2015 : Finalist (Women's Collaborative), 32nd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, MAGNT 2014 : Finalist, 31st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Art Award, MAGNT 2009 : Finalist (Women’s Collaborative), Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth WA Tjauruwa's contribution to the art world, marked by her participation in these numerous prestigious exhibitions and collections, showcases her status as a prominent artist within the Indigenous and global art communities. Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Junjun Jill Jack < Back Junjun Jill Jack Junjun Jill Jack ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE JUNJUN JILL JACK - WARNTI SOLD AU$900.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Junjun Jill Jack ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Jack Britten Also know as: Warnngayirriny, Yalarrji < Back Jack Britten Also know as: Warnngayirriny, Yalarrji Jack Britten 1921 - 2002 Also know as: Warnngayirriny, Yalarrji ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE JACK BRITTEN - WARAMBOOJI - BUSH CREEPER SOLD AU$8,800.00 JACK BRITTEN - PURNULULU SOLD AU$1,800.00 JACK BRITTEN - GOONDARRINYARRIN – PURNULULU SOLD AU$3,000.00 JACK BRITTEN - GURIRR GURIRR Sold AU$0.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Jack Britten 1921 - 2002 Jack Britten was born and spent his childhood at Tickelara Station, in the north west of Australia, at a time when many Gija people were massacred during the gold rush at Hall’s Creek and Chinaman’s Garden in the East Kimberley region. 'Sometimes they bin all day shootin people there,' Jack recalled in his later years, 'my father and mother and grandparents were with good gadiya (white man). I might have got shot if he didn’t look after me' (cited in Ryan 1993: 41). Their ‘good gadiya’ was Ted Britten, a European stockman who took Jack, whilst still a boy, to Fitzroy Crossing to work on stations such as Cherrabun, Christmas Creek and Cogo. He did not rejoin his mother at Ticklerra until in his late teens, and he worked there as a stockman well in to his late 40’s. The introduction of the pastoral award in 1969, which aimed to provide Indigenous workers with similar wages to their non-Indigenous counterparts had the devistating unintended effect of ending their jobs entirely. Jack who, along with other Aboriginal stockmen, found himself unemployed, moved to Nine Mile creek at Wyndham and became a road-worker with the Shire. One of his nicknames Yalarrji, was given to him after spending a number of years panning for gold and dingo trapping at Yalarre on Alice Downs after Ted Britten’s death. He used to relate the tale of finding a reef of gold, enough to make a prospector a rich man, and having been paid for the 44 gallon drum of ore he mined from it in rations and blankets. It was not until the establishment of the Warmun Community at Turkey Creek, some 500 kilometres south of Wyndham, that Jack returned to his traditional lands which stretched from his new residence at Frog Hollow east to the Bungle Bungles; south, to take in the former Hann Springs and Tickelara Cattle Stations; north to the upper reaches of the Ord river; and west to the rugged hilly domain of the Mabel Downs high country. It is this country and its sacred and significant sites that he came to depict in his paintings. Jack Britten actually began painting earlier than almost all of his contemporaries, including Rover Thomas and Paddy Jaminji, his grandparents having taught him to paint using traditional materials, methods and themes. In many of his canvasses, most particularly the earliest ones, Britten used bush gum, sap from the Bloodwood tree and kangaroo blood to bind the ochres. Besides these traditional binding agents, Britten showed other signs of the tutelage he received from his grandparents. The manner in which he marked the dark surface of his canvaes with zig zag, linear, and dotted scrifito and paint is reminiscent of how the Gidja traditionally decorated their artifacts, slates and boab nuts in the region, as well as the designs they created for body painting. Most especially in early paintings, these effects animate Brittens’ unique composite perspective of country. Despite a vast repertoir, Jack Britten is most renowned for his depictions of the Purnululu, the Bungle Bungle region of which he became the most senior living custodian. Throughout his career he constantly drew inspiration from this land, painting the Bungle Bungles as dark clusters of dome shaped mountains, layered with glistening white trails of dots. Nevertheless, excentricities and undulations in composition and stylistic manner were still to be found throughout his artistic output. His early works were daring in their execution, featuring highly unusual compositions of alternating perspectives. In work such as Untitled (Ord River Country)1990, one shifts from a topographical omnipotent perspective of the Ord River, which twists through the work diagonally, to silhouette’s of the Bungle Bungles in lateral perspective, scattered around the river implying their individual orientation in the landscape. In constrast to the somber, moody atmosphere of these early works Britten’s late career paintings tend to be more open and stark as exampled by Pumululu 2001. It is Britten’s moody atmospheric canvases that will be his most enduring. Works with a similar sensibility can also be found in the early paintings of George Mung Mung and Freddie Timms. However, while George and Freddie produced very few works with such temperament, Jack Britten dedicated the majority of his career to investigating the subtle variations of mood and composition within the domain of his own somber outlook on a life lived during turbulent times. As a prolific artist, such investigation left a sumptuous legacy of work of intriguing emotion. ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS While Jack Britten’s work was included in a number of important institutional exhibitions prior to 1990 and several commercial group shows from 1989 onward, his career was marked by a lack of good representation and individual promotion. He lived and painted principally at Frog Hollow and only visited Warmun to paint during the short tenure of Maxine Taylor as the first unfunded art coordinator in Turkey Creek. After Taylor left the community, Jack continued to paint for her exclusively, aside from a very brief period just prior to his death in 2002. Earlier works were painted for Waringarri Arts and Ochre Gallery in Kununurra and, until its closure, Goolarabooloo Arts in Broome. However Jack did not like to travel far beyond the confines of his small community and relied, for most of his career, on others visiting him there. An important body of work was produced in this way for Vivien Anderson in the early 1990s. Although he was active from the early 1980s, when Rover Thomas had only just began painting, Jack Britten is appreciated, by and large, on his own terms, and for a distinct and altogether different sensibility. His early works were not, for instance, derived from the Krill Krill boards associated with the origins of the East Kimberley style as were the work of Thomas, Jaminji and others. His early Purnulu- Bungle Bungles1984 fetched an astounding $35,125 when offered at Deutscher~Menzies with a presale estimate of just $15,000-18,000 in 2000. Still his sixth highest result, it was not exceeded as his record price until Sotheby achieved $49,850 for a work with the same theme and estimate four years later. Such a high price at the time, doubling the previous record of $17,250, paid for Untitled (Ord River) 1990 two years earlier, is even more noteworthy in light of its year of auction, 2000. The day before Sotheby’s had just eclipsed the record paid for Texas Downs Country 1984 by Rover Thomas which stood at $108,100 when they sold Kulmadja (Elgee Cliff)1987 for $141,00, (now Rover's 34th best result). The following year Rover's record was set at $778,750 (and this remains his best sale to this day), while Jack Britten highest result is the $82,750 achieved by Sotheby’s for a 1989 depiction of Purnululu which carried an estimate of just $60,000-80,000 in 2005. The preference amongst collectors of works by major East Kimberley artists, other than Paddy Bedford and those who began painting much later, is clearly for works created prior to the early 1990s. In Britten’s case all of his best ten results were for paintings created before 1994 until a major 1998 triptych with each panel measuring 160 x 60 cm achieved his second highest result when sold at Mossgreen in April 2008 for $51,735 against a presale estimate of $50,000-70,000 (Lot 118). This later work was characterized by a stricter geometry and starker colouration. Britten's next highest result for work produced after 1993 was Purnululu 2001, a work measuring 110 x 114 cm. which sold at Lawson~Menzies for $21,600 in 2005 (Lot 197). However these later works also form a large majority of his lesser sales and a considerable amount of his unsold works. The number of works at auction steadily increased during the late 1990s and peaked in 2004 when 26 were offered for sale of which 21 sold for a total value of $216,410. Despite fewer works being up for sale, 2005 was the peak year for Britten’s work with 15 paintings selling for more than $276,000. Only 26 works have sold for more than $10,000 with just three selling above $50,000 indicating a distinct reserve on the part of buyers for all but the very best of his works. Jack Britten produced many very fine paintings in the last five years of his life but Tier I auction houses have shown an indifference to the provenance of his late career painting even though it was Jack himself who refused to paint for the Warmun art centre once Maxine Taylor no longer acted as art coordinator there. His works created for her company, Narangunny Art Traders, were produced with great integrity employing the finest materials and would seem to be greatly undervalued in the current market. While his images of the Bungle Bungle ranges are by far his most familiar, Jack Britten produced many other images throughout a painting career which spanned several decades. Many of these, may currently be considered lesser works, however they are extremely accomplished, quirky and visually challenging. A perfect example is the delightful Eagles 1993 which sold for a mere $8,400 at Sotheby’s in July in 2005 (Lot 192) despite its considerable size and beauty. The two eagles seem to court each other, endearingly. This work, like all of Jack Britten’s best, can be appreciated for its charm, doubtless born by the love and longing this great old man felt for the country of his birth. He was an artist of the highest importance and his paintings are relatively inexpensive alongside those of many of his contemporaries. They represent fantastic value for collectors who can still pick up great paintings at very reasonable prices indeed. In the last few years it has become increasingly difficult to sell Britten's work at auction, with clearance rates dropping steadily (2017 showed a rate of only 29%), and estimates reflecting his waning popularity. We have yet to see if Britten's popularity will experience an upswing in the coming years. The one thing that is certain is that for an artist of Jack Britten's importance, collectors have the opportunity to snatch up lovely works at incredibly reasonable prices. Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Artist Once Known < Back Artist Once Known Artist Once Known ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - PANDANUS WOVEN BASKET OENPELLI SOLD AU$1,200.00 ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - OENPELLI (DILLY HANDBAG) SOLD AU$850.00 ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - SET OF 4 ARM BANDS FROM BATHURST ISLAND SOLD AU$250.00 ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - PANDANUS WOVEN BASKET OENPELLI SOLD AU$1,200.00 ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - WEVEN BASKET FROM ELCHO ISLAND SOLD AU$750.00 ARTIST ONCE KNOWN - HAND CARVED PIPE SOLD AU$180.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Artist Once Known ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

AHARLPER COUNTRY Cooee Art Redfern - 17 Thurlow St, Redern, NSW 2016 From 18 March to 09 April 2022 AHARLPER COUNTRY From 18 March to 09 April 2022 AHARLPER COUNTRY From 18 March to 09 April 2022 Cooee Art Redfern - 17 Thurlow St, Redern, NSW 2016 In Collaboration with Lauraine Diggins Fine Art “This is my country, I paint good colour, little dots. I like my painting.” Angelina Ngal was there from the start, a pillar of the formative years of Utopia women’s painting. Formerly known as Angelina Pwerl, – her husband’s name, Pwerl(e) in Alyawarr language is the equivalent to Ngal in the Anmatyerr language – she is today referred to as as Angelina Ngal. As did her sisters, Kathleen and Poly Ngal, Angelina began producing batiks and wooden sculptures in the mid 1980s. After taking part in the CAAMA ‘summer project’ in 1988-9, Angelina quickly adapted to painting on canvas. She was included in the first exhibition of Utopia women’s paintings, held in Alice Springs in 1990, swiftly gaining international recognition. This appreciation and respect never dipped or wavered in the decades since, though her ascent in the Australian general public’s eye was slow, despite widespread international acclaim among important collectors and museums. Domestically, she may still be less of a household name than some of her contemporaries. Nonetheless, her work was featured at this years Art Basel Miami, as well as being slated to tour internationally as part of the Met’s The Shape of Time: Art and Ancestors of Oceania. According to Dan F Stapleton in the Financial Times (January 28 2022), Ngal remains ‘something of an insider’s secret whose work is tightly held. ‘If [Emily] Kngwarreye is the A-lister and [Daniel] Walbidi is the rising star, then Angelina Pwerle is the cult favourite – one on whom a growing number of institutions and collectors are quietly placing bets.’* Undoubtedly, Angelina Ngal stands as one of the preeminent artists from Utopia. The long, steady growth of the artist’s acclaim befits her art. Ngal draws from a seemingly infinite well of patience and love of country, gradually layering fields of colour upon each other, considering carefully each swath of delicate marks. She paints her grandfather’s country, Aharlper. Originally, most of her paintings depicted the Bush Plum, which she represents through a focus of red dots into which she merges a variety of minute and painstakingly rendered coloured dots, ensuring that the tiny red dot is always central and clear. Angelina later extended her practice, producing a range of exquisitely coloured compositions that maintain a layer of meaning related to the Bush Plum. In these, points of geography, knowledge of sacred landmarks, and memories of hunting or ceremonial business result in a subtle and textured surface that hints to the viewer of an ethereal numinous landscape. To most of us, much of the sacred and ceremonial business is entirely or partly hidden. Still, the knowledge and reverence of country is palpable; it pulses beneath the surface of each delicate rendering of her country and Dreaming. Abstractly, the works conjure galaxies and molecules at once, the gigantic and the minute. Sometimes, standing before a work is like looking up to the skies as sheets of torrential rain bathe and nourish, drown and revive. Other times, we may be looking down at seeds and desert sand, a world of atomically small elements. This exhibition consists of two parts, running simultaneously at Lauraine Diggins Fine Art in Melbourne, and Cooee Art Redfern in Sydney. With a longstanding relationship, the galleries represent two of the foremost and major Australian Indigenous fine art galleries. The cross-state exhibition surveys the last two decades of Angelina Ngal’s practice, highlighting major works in her distinct styles, with a larger focus on the finely detailed later work the artist is most recognised for. According to the artist herself, “This is a constant engagement. This is a spiritual connection to place […] My Bush Plum paintings represent the whole thing: all of Country.” Dan F Stapleton for the Financial Times, January 28 2022 VIEW CATALOGUE EX ?

BEAUTIFUL ART MADE PROPER WAY Cooee Art Redfern - 17 Thurlow St, Redern, NSW 2016 From 15 January to 19 February 2022 Viewing Room BEAUTIFUL ART MADE PROPER WAY Artists from Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists Studio From 15 January to 19 February 2022 Cooee Art Redfern - 17 Thurlow St, Redern, NSW 2016 Established in 2000, the Bindi Mwerre Anthurre Artists studio is the first in Australia to occupy the intersection between supported studios and Aboriginal Art Centres. The studio provides a means for Aboriginal artists living with a disability to develop and receive recognition for their artistic practices by providing supported studio spaces, a national exhibition schedule, design contracts, multimedia collaborations, art fairs and art award opportunities. “Mwerre Anthurre Art - “Beautiful Art Made Proper Way” - Billy Benn Perrurle VIEW CATALOGUE VIEW VIDEO EX 227

Artist Profile for Liddy Napanangka Walker < Back Liddy Napanangka Walker Liddy Napanangka Walker ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE LIDDY NAPANANGKA WALKER - WAKIRLPIRRI JUKURRPA (DOGWOOD TREE DREAMING) SOLD AU$4,800.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Liddy Napanangka Walker ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for James Lyuna < Back James Lyuna James Lyuna ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE JAMES LYUNA - SACRED DILLY BAG SOLD AU$1,500.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE James Lyuna ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Artist Profile for Rammey Ramsey < Back Rammey Ramsey Rammey Ramsey 1935 ARTIST PROFILE ARTIST CV MARKET ANALYSIS READ FULL ARTIST PROFILE RAMMEY RAMSEY - MY COUNTRY - WARLAWOON Sold AU$0.00 RAMMEY RAMSEY - WARLAWOON COUNTRY (DIPTYCH) Sold AU$0.00 top Anchor 1 PROFILE Rammey Ramsey 1935 Though the trailblazers of the modern Aboriginal art movement have often been senior in years, their early life steeped in tradition, this has never hampered their capacity for innovation. The divergent approaches to art in the Kimberley area stems from the complex network of Dreamtime narratives that thread through its vast tracts of once shared land. The ceremonial exchanges that occurred seasonally, between specific tribal and language groups, fostered culturally commensurate perspectives rather than exclusivity and conflict. To this day, a malleable framework of cultural affiliations and historical readings means that new interpretations are always possible. This has played out creatively in the career of Rammey Ramsey. Rammey Ramsey started painting for Jirrawun Arts in the central Kimberley in 2000. He was in his mid sixties by then but his involvement in traditional ceremony had already made art-making a central part of his life. He is a senior Gija man, of Jungurra skin and his country is Warwaloon, west of Bedford Downs. This country provides the subject matter of most of his works. Like many of his people, he began working on pastoral stations during his youth. These stations were adjacent to ancestral lands where traditional ceremonial activities could still be maintained. When equal pay legislation prompted pastoralists to send Aboriginal people off the land, they settled in small communities throughout the Kimberley and slowly the art movement began to take shape. Art became an essential way to stay connected with their ancient cultural heritage. Almost immediately after he began painting, Ramsey’s work was being shown alongside his renowned fellow artists at Jirrawun Paddy Bedford, Freddie Timms and Hector Jandalay, at the William Mora Galleries in Melbourne. This exhibition was called Gaagembi, meaning 'poor things' - a term of sympathy, sorrow and endearment. It refers to the feeling of the Gija people for their country and the traditional way of life now lost to them. Alongside ancestral topographies, historical themes and events are often touched upon in Ramsey’s work. The Gija people suffered cruelly at the hands of the early white settlers. Enslavement and massacre were part of that sorry tale. Ramsey trained young dancers, created body painting and dance poles and danced himself for the Joonba performances that commemorate these events Jirrawun Arts was a model art centre, owned and run by the artists under the guidance of Tony Oliver. Oliver’s large collection of modern art books exposed Ramsey to influences such as Paul Klee and Sonia Delaunay. The group also regularly discussed their own work, exchanging ideas and memories and techniques. Ramsey was influenced by Rover Thomas’s majestic ochres in his early work but went on to explore a more gestural style, inspired in part by his close friend Paddy Bedford. Building a wet on wet field of colour gradations, Ramsey embeds simple jewel-like shapes of vivid gouache colour. These are the distilled features of his country such as hills, meeting places, water holes, or may refer to an event, plant or animal home. Sharp contrasting or dotted lines often weave around and between, representing rivers, roads or other connecting landmarks. This is Warwaloon, an area that makes up part of Gija country and the place where Ramsey was born. It is also his traditional name. The artists of Jirrawun would visit the city in distinctive looking suits and dark glasses. They were photographed with politicians and dignitaries as they gained the art world’s approval and financial independence. A new purpose-built art centre was built at Wyndham, near the coast. Over time however, as the older artists died, Jirrawun Arts folded, and in 2010, Ramsey moved to the Warmun Art Centre. Besides being a painter, he is a loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, with many other community members who also appreciate his unassuming humanity that has seen both the best and worst of life. Above all he seeks to convey knowledge and compassion in his work. Recently he has explored printmaking at the Charles Darwin University Studio. His work is held in major collections throughout Australia including Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, and the Ian Potter Gallery, Melbourne. Profile author: Sophie Pierce ARTIST CV Market Analysis MARKET ANALYSIS Rammey Ramsey's paintings first appeared at public auction in 2007. By then his work had been included in six group exhbitions and 3 solo exhibitions. Given he only began painting at 65 years of age in 2000 this was quite an achievement. It was not until 2011 that more than 20 works had been offered for sale and at that time his success rate was poor with only 50% of works finding new homes. His record price however stood at $19,200, a record set in 2009 by a work entitled Doowoon Country - Tranie Gorge, 2004 at Deutscher & Hackett, and equalled by another work at the same auction house in 2010. Thougn many arguably finer works have been offered for sale since that time, these two records still stand today as they highest prices ever paid for a work by Ramsay. Two other works hold his 3rd highest price of $18,600. Warlawoon Country 2008 sold at Deutscher & Hackett's sale of the Laverty Collection in 2015 and this equalled the price acheived at Bonham's two eyars earlier for a work of the same name created in 2007. Shortly after the begining of 2016, the number of works by this artist that had been offered for sale on the secondary market had risen to 51 of which 61 percent have sold. it has been enough to see Ramsay finally break into the top 100 artists of the movement in 96th position. Rammey Ramsey is an artist who typifies the move in appreciation of Aboriginal art from those with an interest in its origins and culture, to those looking for works that resonate with contemporary abstraction. It is hard to look at his work and not compare it with that of designers under the influence of Sonia Delaunay. They are, regardless of that fact, highly accpomplished and attractive paintings. Ramsay was not a particularly productive artist and as a result his ouvre is relatively small. The best of his paintings will without doubt continue to find willing buyers whenever they appear at auction. Disclaimer: At Cooee Art Leven, we strive to maintain accurate and respectful artist profiles. Despite our efforts, there may be occasional inaccuracies. We welcome any corrections or suggested amendments. Please contact us with your feedback .

Joanne Currie Nalingu | It Flows Joshua Bonson | Ancestor's Footsteps Joanne Currie Nalingu | It Flows Joshua Bonson | Ancestor's Footsteps LAST DAY - Saturday 13 January 2024 Cooee Art Redfern - 17 Thurlow St, Redern, NSW 2016 Joanne Currie Nalingu | It Flows Joshua Bonson | Ancestor's Footsteps