My Country III 1995

Emily Kame Kngwarreye made "My Country III" using paint, and what strikes me is the pure joy of the application. It’s like each daub of color is a little burst of energy. Looking closely, you can see how the painting is built up from these individual touches, a mass of colorful dots creating a vibrant, textured surface. The way the colors blend and overlap, especially around the edges of the red and yellow areas, gives the painting a feeling of constant movement. It’s like the land itself is alive, breathing. There is a patch of lighter blue, almost white, down in the lower section, and it strikes me as being like when light catches on water or dew on the ground. Considering that Kngwarreye began painting later in life, there is an exuberance here, something to think about when considering, say, Hilma af Klint and other artists making radical work outside of the mainstream. To me, it's a reminder that art is always an ongoing conversation.