작품 상세

JOHN MAWURNDJUL 1952 - 2024 Ngarrbek (The Echidna), 1993 ochre on bark 28 x 83 cm attached verso: certificate signed by Diane Moon, 1993 and MAW215 PROVENANCE The Artist, painted in the Maningrida region, NT Maningrida Arts and Culture, NT Cat No. MAW215 Private collection, NSW Cooee Art, Aboriginal Works of Art including the estate of the late Mike Chandler, Sydney, 04/06/2019, Lot No. 42 Private collection, NSW accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Maningrida Arts and Culture John Mawurndjul began painting at Milmilngkan in the late 1970s under the guidance of his uncle Jimmy Njiminjuma. During the 1980s his bark paintings often depicted Ngalyod (the Rainbow Serpent), custodian of the nearby billabong, along with local animals such as fish, bandicoot and possum. These early works combined precise anatomical detail with areas of cross-hatching, or rarrk, a technique drawn from the body-painting designs used in the Mardayin ceremony. In this work, John Mawurndjul depicts Ngarrbek, the echidna, an animal of particular importance in Kuninjku country. Echidnas are a valued food source, often located in abandoned termite mounds, and are classified as belonging to Mawurndjul's Dhuwa moiety. Completed in the early 1990s when Mawurndjul was transitioning from figurative imagery to a more abstract visual language, centred on rarrk (cross-hatching), the echidna provides a compositional framework for his fine line-work, derived from ceremonial body painting designs used in the Mardayin ceremony. @ JOHN MAWURNDJUL / Copyright Agency, 2025