Yarla (Bush Potato), 2001

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

148 x 76 cm

Est. $5,000 – $7,000

Provenance: Cooee Art, Sydney, NSW Acquired direct from the artist
Artwork story: The Yarla Jukurrpa carries a morality at its heart. Two brothers, Yumurrpa the elder and Wapurtarli the younger, come into conflict — a dispute that brings widespread death and destruction before resolution, and whose lesson concerns the importance of sharing and the responsible management of country. Passed down through Warlpiri ceremony and song, this is among the major ceremonial stories for Napurrula women, and it was the story to which Yulyurlu Lorna Fencer Napurrula returned across her entire painting life. Her Country at Yumurrpa in the Tanami Desert is the story's country, and she painted it with the authority of a senior custodian. Yulyurlu came to acrylic painting in 1986 through the art program at Lajamanu School, later moving to Katherine where she became the driving force behind Mimi Aboriginal Arts and Crafts. This canvas, acquired direct from the artist through Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, belongs to a concentrated period of late work from 2000 and 2001 in which she painted the foliage, flowers and root structures of the bush potato with a stylised naturalism. The blue lines surge and coil across a warm ground of deep red and brown with an energy that sets her clearly apart from contemporaries who largely adhered to structured dot techniques. Fiona Salmon, Director of the Flinders University Museum of Art, has written that this unconventional approach was initially dismissed by fellow artists before gaining recognition well beyond her community, establishing Yulyurlu as one of the region's most sought-after artists.

Catalogues171 of 257

Click to enlarge

Sale 3 · Lot 23

Lorna Naparrula Fencer

c.1924–1925 – 2006

Region: Central Desert & Tanami
Community: Lajamanu
Language group: Warlpiri

Yarla (Bush Potato), 2001

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

148 x 76 cm

Est. $5,000 – $7,000

Provenance: Cooee Art, Sydney, NSW Acquired direct from the artist
Artwork story: The Yarla Jukurrpa carries a morality at its heart. Two brothers, Yumurrpa the elder and Wapurtarli the younger, come into conflict — a dispute that brings widespread death and destruction before resolution, and whose lesson concerns the importance of sharing and the responsible management of country. Passed down through Warlpiri ceremony and song, this is among the major ceremonial stories for Napurrula women, and it was the story to which Yulyurlu Lorna Fencer Napurrula returned across her entire painting life. Her Country at Yumurrpa in the Tanami Desert is the story's country, and she painted it with the authority of a senior custodian. Yulyurlu came to acrylic painting in 1986 through the art program at Lajamanu School, later moving to Katherine where she became the driving force behind Mimi Aboriginal Arts and Crafts. This canvas, acquired direct from the artist through Coo-ee Aboriginal Art, belongs to a concentrated period of late work from 2000 and 2001 in which she painted the foliage, flowers and root structures of the bush potato with a stylised naturalism. The blue lines surge and coil across a warm ground of deep red and brown with an energy that sets her clearly apart from contemporaries who largely adhered to structured dot techniques. Fiona Salmon, Director of the Flinders University Museum of Art, has written that this unconventional approach was initially dismissed by fellow artists before gaining recognition well beyond her community, establishing Yulyurlu as one of the region's most sought-after artists.