Alcheringa Gallery
665 Fort Street
Victoria, BC, Canada
TEL: (250) 383-8224
FAX: (250) 383-9399
email alcheringa
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 Rover Thomas
Language group Western Desert
Warmun, Turkey Creek,
One of Australia’s most distinguished and influential artists, Rover Thomas began painting in the mid 1970’s after a thirty year career as a stockman and labourer.
He was born in 1926 near Gunawaggi in the Great Sandy Desert; his mother was a Kukatja woman and his father Wankajunga; he was ‘grown up’, in the Aboriginal way, by two fathers, Lanikan Thomas and Sundown. When he was ten his family walked 500 kilometres north to Billiluna Station, where several years later he underwent his traditional initiation.
As a consequence of the unemployment and migration caused by the equal pay ruling of the late 1960’s, Thomas settled in Warmun (Turkey Creek), an Aboriginal community in the Kimberley, Western Australia. An auspicious chain of events included a revelation which came to Thomas in a dream, of the Krill Krill ceremony; a ceremony which has become synonymous with Aboriginal people of the East Kimberley. Its associated songs and pictorial imagery have been described as a cultural reaffirmation, through interpretation, of contemporary events that shroud an ancient landscape; it also led to the formation of a school of painting now recognised as distinctly that of the East Kimberley.
Mary Macha, a Perth-based art consultant was instrumental in nurturing the fledgling art movement at Turkey Creek and placing Rover Thomas’ works into important collections.
The Gija style of Rover’s adopted country has a figurative orientation influenced by regional rock art and ceremonial body paint designs. Rover Thomas draws on both Western Desert and East Kimberley styles, creating a highly individual synthesis that is rare in the work of bush artists. Author Judith Ryan said of Rover: Thomas is not locked inside language patterns or ritual structures of the Western desert, he looks beyond them to another world or reality and enjoys the freedom to depict this expansively.
Rover Thomas came to public prominence in the late 1980’s when his reputation grew as his work gained wider commercial exposure. In 1989 he was included in the Art Gallery of Western Australia’s exhibition On the Edge: Five Contemporary Aboriginal Artists. In 1990 he represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, and was also awarded the John McCaughey Prize for the best painting hung that year in the Art Gallery of NSW. In 1994 he was involved in his landmark retrospective Roads Cross: The Paintings of Rover Thomas, mounted by the National Gallery of Australia.
In 1995 Rover Thomas travelled back to his birthplace. On his return to Kununurra, he painted an impressive body of work inspired by this sojourn in Kukatja country. Rover Thomas died in 1998.
His work is held in collections all over Australia as well as in the USA, Scotland and Germany.
Subjects and Themes
Rounded blocs of colour, minimalist style Dreamings from Turkey creek to the desert, Krill Krill, Cyclone Tracy, Railway bridge Katherine, Yari Country
Collections
Artbank, Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia
Edith Cowan University Art Collection, Perth Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide
Kluge-Ruhe Collection, Virginia, USA
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
Myer Gatner Collection, USA
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Oodgeroo Collection, Qld University of Technology Collection
Parliament House Collection,Canberra
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, USA
Thomas Vroom Collection, The Netherlands
EXHIBITIONS
Individual Exhibitions
1994 Roads Cross: The Paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1994 Rover Thomas, Utopia Art Sydney, Stanmore
Group Exhibitions
1986 The Third National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1987 Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, Goolarabooloo Gallery, Broome
1987 Art of the East Kimberley, Birrukmarri Gallery, Perth
1987 Recent Aboriginal Art from Western Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1988 ANCAAA and Boomalli, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative, Sydney
1988 Art from the Kimberley, Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Sydney
1988 Innovative Aboriginal Art of Western Australia, University of Western Australia, Perth
1988 Recent Aboriginal Painting, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
1988 Creating Australia: 200 Years of Art 1788-1988, International Cultural Corporation of Australia, Touring
1988 Australian Art Post-1960, Deutscher Gallery, Brunswick
1989 On the Edge, five contemporary Aboriginal artists, AGWA, Perth
1989 Turkey Creek: Recent Work, Deutscher Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1989 A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Design Warehouse Sydney [through Lauraine Diggins Fine Art]
1989 Masterpiece Fine Art Gallery, Hobart
1989 L’ete Australien a’ Montpellier, Musee Fabre Gallery, Montpellier, France
1990 Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990: From Australia, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow and touring UK
1990 Anatjari Tjampitjinpa, Dini Campbell Tjampitjinpa and Rover Thomas, John Weber Gallery, New York, USA
1990 The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1990 Venice Biennale: Australian Representative, with Trevor Nickolls
1990 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia
1990 Balance 1990: Views, Visions, Influences, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1990 Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Harvard University, University of Minnesota, Lake Oswego Center for the Arts, United States of America
1990 L’ete Australian a Montpellier, Musee Fabre, France
1990 Innovations in Aboriginal Art, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney.
1990 The Singing Earth, Chapman Gallery, Canberra
1990 Abstraction, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1991 Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court, Canberra
1991 Flash Pictures, National Gallery of Australia.
1991 Walkabout in the Dreamtime, Virginia Miller Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA
1992 Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo
1993 Trevor Nickolls and Paintings by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Ginger Riley Manduwalawala and Rover Thomas, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1993 The Tenth 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
1993/4 ARATJARA, Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark
1994 Power of the Land: Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria
1994 Identities: Art from Australia, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan, Wollongong City Gallery
1994 Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1994 This Land: A Celebration, Utopia Art Sydney, Stanmore
1994 Yiribana, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1995 Stories, Eine Reise zu den grossen Dingen, touring, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Museum fur Volkerkunde Leipzig, Haus der Kulteren der Welt Berlin, Ludwig-Forum fur Internationale Kunst Aachen
1995 The Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin 1994 Rover Thomas: An Artist from Turkey Creek, Hogarth Galleries Sydney
1994 This land: A Celebration Utopia Art, Sydney
1994 Power of the Land: Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1994 Roads Cross -The Paintings of Rover Thomas, National Gallery of Australia
1994 Rover Thomas New Paintings, Utopia Art, Sydney
1995 Rover Thomas -Well 33 Revisited, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne
1995 Painting up the Country: Aboriginal art from the Kimberley WA, Cooee Aborignal art, Sydney.
1995 The Festival of Darwin Art exhibition: Kimberley Printmakers
1995 Offset and Intaglio, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle
1995 Made in the Kimberleys, Moores Building Fremantle
1995 Northwest and Kimberley Artists, Durack Gallery, Kimberley Fine Art, Broome
1995 Latest Landscapes, Utopia Art, Sydney
1995 12th NATSI Art Award Museum & Art Gallery of NT, Darwin
1995 Stories: Eine Reise zu den Grossen Dingen - Elf Kunstler der australischen Aborigines, Werke aus der sammlung Holmes a Court, Perth - Sprengel Museum,Hannover-Museum fur Volkerkunde zu leipzig - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, berlin - Ludwig Forum fur internationale Kunstt, A Achen
1996 Figures in the Land, National gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1996 Abstraction: Signs, Marks, Symbols National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1996 This is my country, this is me Seattle art museum, Seattle USA
1996 Contemporary Australian Abstraction, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne
1996 Flagging the Republic, Sherman galleries, New England regional Gallery, Touring
1996 Nangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art exhibition-Ebes Collection Sichting Sint-Jan, Brugges, Belgium
1997 Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Paintings, Songlines Aboriginal Art Gallery, Amsterdam, San Francisco
1997 Imaging the Land National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1999 Myer Gatner Collection, USA
2000 From Appropriation to Appreciation: Indigenous influences and images in Australian Visual Art, Flinders University Art Museum Adelaide
2000 Images of the Land Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Bibliography
Aboriginal Artists of Western Australia, [n.d.] [folios of works and biographies] , Aboriginal Education Resources Unit, Western Australia
Aboriginal Arts Management Association, 1990, Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990 - from Australia (presented by the Aboriginal Arts Committee, Australia Council and Third Eye Centre, Glasgow), exhib. cat., Redfern, New South Wales (C)
Brody, A., Krempel, U., Bahr, E., (eds.), 1995, Stories, Eine Reise zu den grossen Dingen, exhib. cat., Landeshauptstadt Hannover Der Oberstadtdirektor Sprengel Museum Hannover and Autoren.
The Bulletin, May 10, 1994, An Affirmation of Black Visual Power, review of NGA solo exhibition, p. 92
Caruana, W., 1987, Australian Aboriginal Art, a Souvenir Book of Aboriginal Art in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Parkes, Australian Capital Territory (C)
Caruana, W. (ed.), 1989, Windows on the Dreaming, Ellsyd Press, Sydney (C)
Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London (C)
Crossman, S. and Barou, J-P. (eds), 1990, L’ete Australien a Montpellier: 100 Chefs d’Oevre de la Peinture Australienne, Musee Fabre, Montpellier, France (C)
Crumlin, R., (ed.), 1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, Collins Dove, North Blackburn, Victoria (C)
Diggins, L. (ed.), 1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, exhib. cat., Malakoff Fine Art Press, North Caulfield, Victoria
1993, Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, exhib. cat. (conceived and designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag, Koln (C)
Hart, D. 1995, Place and Perception: New Acquisitions: Parliament House Collection, Parliament house, Canberra
Isaacs, J., 1987, Waiting for the mob from Balgo, Art Monthly Australia, June 1987, No.1 p.20-22
Isaacs J. 1999, Spirit Country, Hardie Gates Books
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 an ancient culture, Allen & Unwin 1999
Morphy H. 1998, Aboriginal Art, Phaidon Press
Neale, M., 1994, Yiribana, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (C)
O’Ferrall, M., 1989, On the Edge - Five Contemporary Aboriginal Artists, exhib. cat., Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
O’Ferrall, M., 1989, Painting the country, Rover Thomas, Tension 17, 43,45 (C)
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
Stanton, J.E., 1988, Innovative Aboriginal Art of Western Australia, Occasional Paper 1, The University of Western Australia Anthropology Research Museum, Nedlands, Western Australia (C)
Stanton, J., 1989, Painting the Country: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley Region, Western Australia, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia (C)
Thomas,N.Possession, Indigenous Art and Colonial Culture, Thames &Hudson 1999
Thomas, R., with Akerman, K., Macha, M., Christensen, W., and Caruana, W., Road Cross, The paintings of Rover Thomas, exhib. cat. National Gallery of Australia, The Craftsman Press Pty. Ltd., Victoria
Wallace, D., Desmond, M., Caruana, W., 1991, Flash Pictures, exhib. cat., National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1988, ANCAAA and Boomalli, exhib. cat., Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney (C)
1990 Balance 1990: Views, Visions, Influences, exhib. cat., Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (C)
1990 Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, exhib. cat., Heytesbury Holdings Ltd., Perth
1992 Aboriginal Art, National Gallery News, 10th Birthday edition, September/October 1992, p. 5-7
1999 Art from the Land: dialogues with the Kluge Ruhe Collection, University of Virginia
2000 Artlink, Australian Contemporary Art Quarterly, Vol.20 Reconciliation? Indigenous art for the 21st century, Edited by Murray L.& Drury N.Australian Painting Now. Craftsman House 2000
Medium
Painting, ochres on plywood, ochres on canvas with gum resin fixative, limited edition prints
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