Artist: Luurn Willie Kew | Title: Hills at Nyirla | Year: 2006 | Medium: synthetic polymer paint on canvas | Dimensions: 83 x 144 cm
PROVENANCE
Mangkaja Arts, WA, Cat No. WJ1840
The Jacquie McPhee Collection
ILLUSTRATED
The Greatest Passion of All, The Jacquie McPhee Collection, 2017, Bluestar Print, Melbourne Illustrated p 282-283
ARTWORK STORY
"Nyirla is my place, my country," said Luurn Willie Kew. "That's a good one. It's got water. Good hills." This simple affirmation lays at the heart of Kew's painting: a lyrical, memory-infused landscape of the remote Western Desert, articulated in warm ochres and dark outlines.
The artist's lines map the curvature of the land - the hills, creeks, and waterholes - shaped by ancestral presence and lived experience. His restrained palette and composed structure speak to the patient watchfulness of desert life.
As part of the Martu art movement, Willie's work is less stylised than that of some of his contemporaries though it retains a quiet dignity. For collectors interested in the poetics of place and direct engagement with desert storytelling, his work has a steady, grounded presence.
PROVENANCE
Mangkaja Arts, WA, Cat No. WJ1840
The Jacquie McPhee Collection
ILLUSTRATED
The Greatest Passion of All, The Jacquie McPhee Collection, 2017, Bluestar Print, Melbourne Illustrated p 282-283
ARTWORK STORY
"Nyirla is my place, my country," said Luurn Willie Kew. "That's a good one. It's got water. Good hills." This simple affirmation lays at the heart of Kew's painting: a lyrical, memory-infused landscape of the remote Western Desert, articulated in warm ochres and dark outlines.
The artist's lines map the curvature of the land - the hills, creeks, and waterholes - shaped by ancestral presence and lived experience. His restrained palette and composed structure speak to the patient watchfulness of desert life.
As part of the Martu art movement, Willie's work is less stylised than that of some of his contemporaries though it retains a quiet dignity. For collectors interested in the poetics of place and direct engagement with desert storytelling, his work has a steady, grounded presence.