Ahalper(e) Country, 1994

184 x 252 cm

Est. $4,000 – $7,000

Hammer $3,200

Provenance: Mulga Bore Artists, Utopia, NT, Cat No. 43-694A Austral Gallery, St Louis (Mary Reid Brunstrom), Invoice No. 869 Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Louis (Louie) Pwerl(e)’s Ahalper(e) Country is an outstanding large-scale canvas that reflects the artist’s custodianship of Anmatyerr(e) traditions from Utopia, Northern Territory. Executed in 1994, the painting features the iconic concentric circles and radiating pathways that signify sacred men’s ceremonial designs for Ahalper(e) country. The work conveys an expansive mapping of place, ceremony, and Dreaming narrative, articulated through the rhythmic precision of Pwerl(e)’s dotting and linear patterning. The composition is anchored by dominant roundels — representing waterholes and ceremonial sites — linked by corridors of ancestral travel, a cosmological cartography rendered with extraordinary balance and clarity. The palette of ochres, yellows, and muted whites against a dark ground enhances the painting’s visual depth, creating a pulsing field of movement and energy.

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Sale 2 · Lot 16

Louie Pwerle

b. 1941

184 x 252 cm

Est. $4,000 – $7,000

Hammer $3,200

Provenance: Mulga Bore Artists, Utopia, NT, Cat No. 43-694A Austral Gallery, St Louis (Mary Reid Brunstrom), Invoice No. 869 Private Collection, Albany NY
Artwork story: Louis (Louie) Pwerl(e)’s Ahalper(e) Country is an outstanding large-scale canvas that reflects the artist’s custodianship of Anmatyerr(e) traditions from Utopia, Northern Territory. Executed in 1994, the painting features the iconic concentric circles and radiating pathways that signify sacred men’s ceremonial designs for Ahalper(e) country. The work conveys an expansive mapping of place, ceremony, and Dreaming narrative, articulated through the rhythmic precision of Pwerl(e)’s dotting and linear patterning. The composition is anchored by dominant roundels — representing waterholes and ceremonial sites — linked by corridors of ancestral travel, a cosmological cartography rendered with extraordinary balance and clarity. The palette of ochres, yellows, and muted whites against a dark ground enhances the painting’s visual depth, creating a pulsing field of movement and energy.