Original Abstract Australian Painting By Mary Morton Kemarre

An incredible acrylic on canvas painting by Australian artist Mary Morton Kemarre (b 1931, d 2016). Mary Morton Kemarre was an Aboriginal Australian Art painter whose down to earth abstract art recalls the long history of the indigenous tribes of Africa. Includes original certificate of authenticity from originating Australian art gallery. Approx 27x39”, this large painting is an abstract beauty filled with white and ochre dots separated by curving ochre lines. It is said the lines are representative of the body paint that the artist’s native clan used, and the dots represents the seeds of the Kurrakong tree which was of utmost important to her clan. Mary was a much loved member of Utopia's art community, having been one of the original group of batik artists which formed in the 1980's. Transitioning to acrylics soon after the group disbanded, Mary became a formiddable player in the art of Kurrajong and Arnkawenyerr communities in northern Utopia. Some of her most famous paintings were characterised with line after line of dump dots - though Mary never divulged why the lines were significant. These works consisted of zigzagged lines, often in red ochre which represented her body paint designs (Awely), and dump dots representing Kurrajong seeds (Ngkweyang) which filled the space. Detail was not important to Mary either. Similar to other older artists of her time like Minnie Pwerle and Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Mary didn't spend time worrying about precision or finesse. Instead she preferred to paint as soon as she placed the canvas on the ground, almost hurriedly to get to the whole point of it - to sing the songs of the country, to capture her body paint and to tell stories. Mary, along with her sister Katie Kemarre and other Antarrengeny women, regularly made the trip north to perform ceremony as required. The colours that belong to Antarrengeny for ceremony are red ochre and white, and this is what the women would paint on their bodies in a deliberate pattern of lines. These are the same designs you can see in Mary's paintings whenever she chose to depict body paint. Painting is in great condition, with no damage. Comes framed in a beautiful native wood frame- not sure what kind of wood it is but it’s almost golden in color. A great frame for a great painting!