John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new

John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new presents the masterful fusion of traditional and contemporary art from the sedge-grass brush of one of Australia’s greatest living artists. John Mawurndjul has been celebrated internationally for his groundbreaking approach to bark painting and for the dazzling radiance of his meticulously painted rarrk (cross-hatching).

This first major Australian survey of his innovative work assembles scores of paintings and sculptures from collections across the country, made in a prolific creative career that spans four decades and deep ancestral time.

The artist himself has led the selection of the works in a collaboration with AGSA and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.

Presented bilingually in Kuninjku and English, the exhibition illuminates Kuninjku culture and the dynamic connections between land and ancestral power in Mawurndjul’s home in western Arnhem Land.

The touring exhibition is a curated selection of many of the finest works shown at the major retrospective held at the MCA in 2018 and at AGSA from 26 October 2018 to 28 January 2019.

Visit the exhibition website for John Mawurndjul: I am the old and the new.