Pansy Napangardi (env. 1938-), « Winburi » (détails), 2007, acrylique sur toile. Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Musée « La grange », Môtiers NE, Suisse. Photo: Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Michel Villars (Pansy Napangardi).
Voyage across Aboriginal Australia. Founders’ Favourites shows works particularly dear to the founders of the foundation, Theresa and Gerard Burkhardt. This new exhibition pays tribute to the founding artists of the contemporary Aboriginal art movement as well as to the more recent generations of renowned painters and sculptors of Aboriginal Australia.
The selection of almost forty powerful artworks, impregnated with ancient wisdom but created with the latest techniques stems from the collection of the Burkhardt-Felder Foundation. It represents Australia’s most important artistic regions and also includes the latest expressions in Aboriginal art. The exhibition takes the viewer on a pictorial journey through space and time across the entire Australian continent.
On this Voyage, the visitor will discover the iconic works of the founding artists in Papunya Tula in the Western Desert as well as the intensity of paintings created by Emily Kame Kngwarreye and the Petyarre sisters in Utopia. Continuing exploration leads to the minimalist ochre paintings in the Kimberley, Western Australia. In between, the visitor comes across a collaborative work by the Spinifex people, which highlights the important role of art in land claims. With an expressive painting by Timothy Cook, the journey continues to the Tiwi Islands. On the upper floor, the impressive, two meter by seven meter big starry night sky by Alison Multa Napurrula calls for a meditative pause.
Voyage across Aboriginal Australia provides the visitor with a panoramic view of the contemporary art scene of Aboriginal Australia and leads to the discovery, or rediscovery, of this ancient culture, rich in spirituality and creativity.
SOURCE: Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture.