American actor and comedian Steve Martin might be known for his not-so-secret passion for bluegrass, but did you know he also has an enviable collection of Aboriginal Australian art?
Steve Martin is lending some of his collection to a New York gallery. Image by Bruce Glikas/WireImage
And now Steve Martin is loaning some of his collection of Australia’s Western Desert works to New York’s Gagosian Gallery, where the most influential artists of the 20th and 21st centuries are shown. In total ten of Australia’s most celebrated Indigenous Australian artists including Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Naata Nungurrayi are included in the exhibition ‘Desert Painters of Australia’, in what some believe will be a game-changer for the Indigenous art sector Down Under.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye’s ‘Wild Yam 2’. Image by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
As well as the monied art collectors in the USA, Gagosian has a million Instagram followers giving an even bigger platform to these Western Desert artists many who live in remote outback communities. Gagosian curator Louise Neri is Australian-born and particularly invested in this exhibition. “When we take on an exhibition, it always has an impact way beyond the gallery wall,” she said.
A view of art work by Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri at the Art Basel Miami Beach 2017. Image by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images
The artist who first piqued Martin’s attention and his collection, Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, is from the Pintupi Nine mob, who lived in the Gibson Desert with no contact with modern Australia until 1984. “What an amazing tale, I cannot wait to tell it to people,” Martin told Australia’s ABC. “It reminded me of stories in art that fascinated us, like van Gogh. I find this story equally fascinating and amazing.”
Western Desert artists’ abstract paintings originally directly depicted signifying symbols from ‘The Dreaming’, but the exhibition notes explain that over time the artists have sought to “obfuscate overt references, dotting and over-dotting as a means of protecting sacred designs…. The art is a simultaneous exposition and concealment and represents a continuum between states of waking and dreaming, ephemerality and permanence, representation and direct experience”.
Steve Martin explains it in layman’s terms in an interview with the ABC in Australia. “These abstract paintings are not so abstract, they’re actually narrative and they tell tales. That separates them from normal abstract painting, which is visual and intellectual. These are visual, intellectual, but also emotional.”
If you’re shopping for art in Australia, check the origins of the work. Image by ampueroleonardo/Getty Images
If you’re visiting Australia and want to buy Aboriginal Australian art or visit artists communities first hand, it pays to do your research. Australia is looking at ways to protecting the intellectual property of Aboriginal creatives who often have their designs copied and mass produced without payment, or copied without permission as Damian Hirst has been accused. Always check the provenance of any work before you hand over your money.
There is indeed something utterly beguiling about these works. We think the Western Desert of Australia is set to take the world by storm.
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