Jack BRITTEN JOOLAMA - Big Storm Over the Bungle Bungle Range
ADG: 2109
DescriptionCLICK HERE TO VIEW ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Big Storm Over the Bungle Bungle Range W.A., c.1996
Ochre (natural earth pigment) on canvas
61 x 80cm
Jack Britten belonged to the line of succession of traditional owners of the Bungle Bungle Range and became its custodian. It is one of the most visually striking landscapes in Australia. Dreamtime stories tell of the great spirits and totems during the creation time, in animal and human form, they moulded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains and gorges as it pushed upward, and is a common motif in the art and mythology of Aboriginal Australia’. The monsoonal rains and big storms of Northern Australia are said to be created by the unpredictable Rainbow Serpent. This mythology is closely linked to land, water, life, social relationships and fertility. It is known both as a benevolent protector of its people and as a malevolent punisher of law breakers.
Jack BRITTEN JOOLAMA
Born c.1925-2002
Language Gija/Gidja
Country East Kimberley, WA
Community Warmun (Turkey Creek)
Residence Frog Hollow (Woorranginy)
Stories Country around Turkey Creek, Ord River, Bedford Downs, Flying Fox, Limestone Country east of Kimberley, Centipede, Bull Creek Country, Purnululu (Bungle Bungle Range), Hermit, Barramundi, Initiation, Night Corroboree, Female Spirit.
Jack Britten was born at Tickelara in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. 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 (Woorranginy), in the East Kimberley where he worked to establish the Worranginy Outstation.
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 from trees as the binder for ochre (natural earth pigment) and the use of saw-toothed incising.
Jack Britten, a senior Gija (Gidja) lawman, focused his paintings and screenprints on his country in the East Kimberley, its origins, ceremonies and ancestral figures, merging into its spiritual and physical landscape. His Dreamings depict a lateral landscape perspective and gentle clusters of dome shaped ranges representing Purnululu (World Heritage listed Bungle Bungle Range). He is known for his exploration of the landscape using rough textures and bold designs, with distinctive dotting to outline the landscape forms, and to describe the country with its underlying presence of ancestors and ceremonies. Jack often incorporated body markings into his work to emphasise his ritual seniority.
Selected Exhibitions
1987 Aboriginal Art from the Kimberley, Goolarabooloo Gallery, Broome
1988 University of Western Australia, Perth
1988 Aboriginal Art from the East Kimberley, Craft Council of NSW Gallery, Sydney
1989 Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
1992 Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan
1992 Broome Fringe Festival, Broome
1993 Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1994 Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1997 Imaging the Land, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1999 Images in Ochre, Cooee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney
Awards
1990 Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1992 The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1994 Australian Heritage Commission. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra
1996 Thirteenth NATSI Art Award Museum and Art Galleries of Northern Territory, Darwin
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, U.S.A.
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth
Bibliography
Aboriginal Artists of Western Australia, Aboriginal Education Resources Unit, W. Australia.
Australian Art Collector, issue 7 1999 Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London.
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, Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Ko-operative, Sydney.
McCulloch, A.,and McCulloch, S., 1994, The Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Allen and Unwin Pty Ltd, St Leonards, New South Wales.
McCulloch S, Contemporary Aboriginal Art: a guide to the rebirth of an ancient culture Allen & Unwin, 1999
Ryan, J., 1993, Images of Power, Aboriginal Art of the Kimberley, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
Smoker, J., 1989, Turkey Creek Recent Work, Deutscher Gertrude Street, Melbourne.
Ranking - Most Important Australian Indigenous Artists (both living and deceased)
2011 Ranked 43/100
