Awelye 1995

Emily Kame Kngwarreye made this abstract painting, Awelye, with acrylic on canvas, and wow, what a sensation of pink! I can imagine Emily in the outback, surrounded by the pinkest landscape you can imagine. It’s all about gesture here, right? The way she laid down those marks, like a dance across the canvas. I can picture her, brush in hand, moving with the rhythm of the land. Are the marks applied thinly or thickly? How have they been built up, layer upon layer, to arrive at this final image? What was she thinking when she made those marks? There’s this gorgeous chain of marks moving down the canvas. It’s not quite a line, more like a series of stutters, like the artist was feeling her way through the painting, searching for something. It reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell, or maybe even Helen Frankenthaler. Emily’s in conversation with them, and so many other painters, reaching across time and space, inspiring each other. Painting is an ongoing conversation, and we’re all invited to join in.