Spinifex 2024: Exceptional Artwork from Tjuntjuntjarra
Past exhibition
Patju Presley Stanley Australian, Pitjantjatjara, b. 1945
Pira, 2024
acrylic on linen
110 x 85 cm
24-12
Patju Presley paints with such spiritual confidence, as someone who knows their place in the Creation, often singing the associated songs of particular sites whilst rhythmically placing his myriad of...
Patju Presley paints with such spiritual confidence, as someone who knows their place in the Creation, often singing the associated songs of particular sites whilst rhythmically placing his myriad of dots to form his striking compositions. Here he depicts the Walawuru (wedge tailed eagle) travelling through the land chasing the illusive Anamara (caterpiller) throughout the lands starting from just south of where Irrunytju community is today all the way to Wiluna in the west.
These characters that Patju depicts within a living, breathing landscape are the creation beings who shaped the immediate environment as they moved through it, leaving a moral narrative etched into the physical domain as testament to their power and presence. It is this physical, spiritual and religious existence that cannot be separated for Patju and is what gives his work the transcendent quality we experience from it.
These characters that Patju depicts within a living, breathing landscape are the creation beings who shaped the immediate environment as they moved through it, leaving a moral narrative etched into the physical domain as testament to their power and presence. It is this physical, spiritual and religious existence that cannot be separated for Patju and is what gives his work the transcendent quality we experience from it.