Mountain Devil Dreaming 1994

Kathleen Petyarre made this painting called Mountain Devil Dreaming with dots of white and yellow ochre, laid on the surface with absolute concentration. Imagine making those tiny marks, one at a time, building up these fields of pulsing color! She repeats these shapes over and over, almost like counting or meditating. I wonder if she felt as I do sometimes, that painting is as much about duration, time, and patience as it is about the image itself. What was she thinking as she made each mark? See how the dots form these swirling patterns around a cross shape in the center, dividing the pictorial field, and then extending outward to four corners. It feels like a map, or a story. Petyarre made many paintings that use variations of these marks to connect a personal cosmology with the traditions of her culture, and that’s a big job to take on. I love that it reminds me that artists are constantly in conversation, building on each other's ideas, and that painting remains an expansive field where the conversation continues.