Artist: David Cox | Title: Country | Year: 2003 | Medium: natural ochre and pigments on canvas | Dimensions: 70 x 45 cm
PROVENANCE
Warmun Art Centre Cat No. WAC 219/03
EXHIBITED
Shalom Institute, July 2005, UNSW
ARTWORK STORY
David Cox was still a relatively young man when he created this experimental work for the Warmun Art Centre at Turkey Creek. He built up the image by applying diluted ochre slurry in several layers to create an impression of the surrounding country. The dotted outline brings the entire composition to life.
Singing out Spring lies in Yiyili country on Louisa Downs Station, near Halls Creek in the Kimberley.
In the Ngarrangkarni (Dreamtime) three men were walking in the country near Yiyili. They were visitors to the country and had not been welcomed to the country.
They came across a large natural spring and bent down to drink of the cool water. However, in the spring lived a large water snake who was keeper of that country and as the men bent down to drink the water, the snake ate them up.
When a stranger comes to new country they should be welcomed to that country. The traditional way is to use a rock and dip it in the water and wipe the sides of the visitor and then throw that rock into the water. This is so the snake can smell the visitor and know that they have been welcomed.
David has painted hills surrounding the waterhole. Yiyili is David's country.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Warmun Community (Turkey Creek), WA
LANGUAGE
Walmajarri
BIOGRAPHY
David was born in Derby, in the north west of the Kimberley region. His family is from Yiyili, halfway between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. This area has many creeks running through it, which feed the Fitzroy Roiver in the west of the Kimberley. David came to paint at the Warmun Art Centre after marrying a Warmun woman. They have two children. David is part of a younger group of artists at Warmun who have an intense interest in the Dreaming stories of their ancestors and are interested in exploring new ways of communicating these stories. He learnt to paint under the instruction of established Warmun artist, Churchill Cann. Churchill's aerial approach to viewing landscape and his use of fine sweeping "watercolour" strokes (using the trademark Warmun natural ochres), have greatly influenced David's work.
REFERENCES
Warmun Art Centre, WA
PROVENANCE
Warmun Art Centre Cat No. WAC 219/03
EXHIBITED
Shalom Institute, July 2005, UNSW
ARTWORK STORY
David Cox was still a relatively young man when he created this experimental work for the Warmun Art Centre at Turkey Creek. He built up the image by applying diluted ochre slurry in several layers to create an impression of the surrounding country. The dotted outline brings the entire composition to life.
Singing out Spring lies in Yiyili country on Louisa Downs Station, near Halls Creek in the Kimberley.
In the Ngarrangkarni (Dreamtime) three men were walking in the country near Yiyili. They were visitors to the country and had not been welcomed to the country.
They came across a large natural spring and bent down to drink of the cool water. However, in the spring lived a large water snake who was keeper of that country and as the men bent down to drink the water, the snake ate them up.
When a stranger comes to new country they should be welcomed to that country. The traditional way is to use a rock and dip it in the water and wipe the sides of the visitor and then throw that rock into the water. This is so the snake can smell the visitor and know that they have been welcomed.
David has painted hills surrounding the waterhole. Yiyili is David's country.
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Warmun Community (Turkey Creek), WA
LANGUAGE
Walmajarri
BIOGRAPHY
David was born in Derby, in the north west of the Kimberley region. His family is from Yiyili, halfway between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek. This area has many creeks running through it, which feed the Fitzroy Roiver in the west of the Kimberley. David came to paint at the Warmun Art Centre after marrying a Warmun woman. They have two children. David is part of a younger group of artists at Warmun who have an intense interest in the Dreaming stories of their ancestors and are interested in exploring new ways of communicating these stories. He learnt to paint under the instruction of established Warmun artist, Churchill Cann. Churchill's aerial approach to viewing landscape and his use of fine sweeping "watercolour" strokes (using the trademark Warmun natural ochres), have greatly influenced David's work.
REFERENCES
Warmun Art Centre, WA
