Goanna and fish, 1975

natural earth pigments on bark

77 x 30 cm

Est. $1,400 – $1,800

Hammer $3,200

Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the current owner, Maningrida, NT, 1975 The collector was working at the Sydney University/ NT Joint Crocodile Research Project, Maningrida, at the time of acquisition
Artwork story: Acquired from Milaybuma in the same transaction as the companion Crocodile 1975, this bark shares its formal character entirely: the same near-black ground, the same warm ochre, cream, and deep red-brown palette, the same assured geometric hatching applied across the surface of each animal with close attention to the distinct character of its form. Here the subject is a large goanna, its body filling the bark in a relaxed, spread posture, all four clawed feet extended, the long tail curling across the lower field. A smaller fish is tucked beneath the right foreleg. The goanna's body is resolved into chevron and diagonal hatching, the geometric patterning shifting direction at each joint and plate boundary to describe the animal's anatomy with both precision and formal elegance. The claws are painted in white with careful individuality. Together the two works form a coherent document of Milaybuma's practice at a specific moment and place, acquired in conditions that could hardly be more direct.

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Sale 3 · Lot 35

David Milaybuma

c.1938 – 1994

natural earth pigments on bark

77 x 30 cm

Est. $1,400 – $1,800

Hammer $3,200

Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist by the current owner, Maningrida, NT, 1975 The collector was working at the Sydney University/ NT Joint Crocodile Research Project, Maningrida, at the time of acquisition
Artwork story: Acquired from Milaybuma in the same transaction as the companion Crocodile 1975, this bark shares its formal character entirely: the same near-black ground, the same warm ochre, cream, and deep red-brown palette, the same assured geometric hatching applied across the surface of each animal with close attention to the distinct character of its form. Here the subject is a large goanna, its body filling the bark in a relaxed, spread posture, all four clawed feet extended, the long tail curling across the lower field. A smaller fish is tucked beneath the right foreleg. The goanna's body is resolved into chevron and diagonal hatching, the geometric patterning shifting direction at each joint and plate boundary to describe the animal's anatomy with both precision and formal elegance. The claws are painted in white with careful individuality. Together the two works form a coherent document of Milaybuma's practice at a specific moment and place, acquired in conditions that could hardly be more direct.