Barrk - Rock Wallaby, c.1990

125.5 x 54 cm

Est. $7,000 – $9,000

Hammer $4,500

Provenance: Painted for Reg Mason of Arnhem Land Art, Oenpelli, NT Private Collection, NSW accompanied by a letter describing the work signed by Reg Mason
Artwork story: Lofty Nadjamerrek was a master of the x-ray painting style, famed for his depictions of Stone Country animals rendered in natural ochres on both stringybark and paper. In Barrk, he presents the agile rock wallaby, a species closely associated with the rugged escarpments of Arnhem Land. The wallaby is shown in profile, delicately shaded with fine infill and internal anatomical detail- a technique derived from ancient rock shelter traditions. Lofty's hand is steady, his linework confident, bridging millennia of visual continuity with a sense of living immediacy. Lofty Nadjamerrek, a senior Kunwinjku artist, was among the last to work directly within the rock art tradition before adapting it to bark painting. His works offer not only technical brilliance, but a rare, living link to over 20,000 years of Indigenous mark-making.

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Sale 1 · Lot 12

c.1926 – 2009

125.5 x 54 cm

Est. $7,000 – $9,000

Hammer $4,500

Provenance: Painted for Reg Mason of Arnhem Land Art, Oenpelli, NT Private Collection, NSW accompanied by a letter describing the work signed by Reg Mason
Artwork story: Lofty Nadjamerrek was a master of the x-ray painting style, famed for his depictions of Stone Country animals rendered in natural ochres on both stringybark and paper. In Barrk, he presents the agile rock wallaby, a species closely associated with the rugged escarpments of Arnhem Land. The wallaby is shown in profile, delicately shaded with fine infill and internal anatomical detail- a technique derived from ancient rock shelter traditions. Lofty's hand is steady, his linework confident, bridging millennia of visual continuity with a sense of living immediacy. Lofty Nadjamerrek, a senior Kunwinjku artist, was among the last to work directly within the rock art tradition before adapting it to bark painting. His works offer not only technical brilliance, but a rare, living link to over 20,000 years of Indigenous mark-making.