Alcheringa Gallery
665 Fort Street
Victoria, BC, Canada
TEL: (250) 383-8224
FAX: (250) 383-9399
email alcheringa
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 Jack Britten
Language Group, Djerag
Warmun, Turkey Creek, East Kimberley,
Aboriginal artist Jack Britten was born at Tickelara in the East Kimberley around 1921. He works in natural ochres on canvas, gum resin fixative, as well as limited edition prints. Britten is a senior Gija lawman. As a boy he was taken to work as a stockman and later as a road worker. In 1982 Jack moved back permanently to Frog Hollow, in the East Kimberley, where he had worked to establish the Worranginy Out-Station.
Jack Britten's painting and screenprints focus on his country in the East Kimberley, its origins, ceremonies and ancestral figures; his vision merging the spiritual and physical landscape.
Jack Britten began ochre painting early in life. His grandparents taught him to paint using traditional materials, methods and themes. Distinctive features of his painting are the use of bush-gum or sap as the binder for ochres and the use of saw-toothed incising. Britten depicts his Dreamings with a lateral landscape perspective and gentle clusters of dome shaped ranges which represent the Bungle Bungles. He is known for his exploration of the landscape with rough textures and bold designs. The distinctive dotting which outlines and is embodied in the landscape forms, describes the country and evokes the presence of ancestors and ceremonies. Jack often incorporates body markings into his work emphasising his ritual seniority. His work is a spiritual and lyrical reflection on the landscape.
Since 1987 Jack Britten has exhibited all over Australia including in the Crossroads - Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, in Kyoto and Tokyo in 1992; and Images of Power: Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1993.
In 1992 he won the Museums and Art Galleries Award and the National Aboriginal Art Award. His work is held in several private and corporate collections. Jack Britten died in 2002.
Subjects and Themes
Country around Turkey Creek, Ord river, Bedford Downs, Flying Fox, Limestone Country East of Kimberley, Centipede, Bull Creek country, Purnululu-Bungle-Bungles.
Collections
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Gifu Museum, Japan
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Group Exhibitions
1987 Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, Goolarabooloo Gallery, Broome
1988 Art of the East Kimberley, Birrukmarri Gallery, Perth
1988 ANCAAA and Boomalli: Boomalli Aboriginal Artists, Ko-operative, Sydney
1988 Aboriginal Art from the East Kimberley, New South Wales Craft Council Gallery, Sydney
1989 Turkey Creek Recent Work, Deutscher Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1990 The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1992 Crossroads - Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo
1992 Broome Fringe Festival, Broome
1992 The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1993 Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1994 Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1994 Power of the Land: Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria
1994 Power of the Land Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1996 13th NATSI Art Award Museum & Art Galleries of NT, Darwin
1997 Imaging the Land, National Gallery of Vic, Melbourne
1999 Images in Ochre, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney, Melbourne
Bibliography
Aboriginal Artists of Western Australia, [n.d.] [folios of works and biographies], Aboriginal Education Resources Unit, W. Australia
Australian Art Collector, issue 7 1999 Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London (C)
Dixon, R.A., & Dillon, M.C., 1990, Aborigines and Diamond Mining: The Politics of Resource Development in the East Kimberley Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia
1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, exhib. cat., Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney (C)
McCulloch, A., & McCulloch, S., 1994, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, St Leonards, New South Wales
McCulloch S,Contemporary Aboriginal Art:a guide to the rebirth ofan ancient culture Allen & Unwin 1999
Ryan, J., 1993, Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, exhib, cat., National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Smoker, J., 1989, Turkey Creek Recent Work, exhib. cat., Deutscher Gertrude Street, Melbourne
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