Lupulnga 2001

Makinti Napanangka made this painting, Lupulnga, with a brush loaded with creamy yellows and whites. Imagine the focus and energy of the artist, the repetitive, almost meditative, act of laying down each line. There’s something so optimistic and full of light in the palette that Napanangka has chosen. It makes me think of Agnes Martin's grids, or even the later work of Hilma af Klint – the way the careful repetition can have a cumulative spiritual power. Each mark, each gesture, becomes a kind of offering. Look at how the lines aren't perfectly straight; they waver and shift. It feels human, doesn't it? Like a reminder that perfection isn't the point. It's the process, the engagement, the sheer act of making, that matters. We, as painters, are always in conversation with each other, across time and space. Napanangka's work is a reminder of the profound, simple, and powerful act of making a mark.