An exciting traveling exhibition highlighting a decisive moment in Aboriginal art just opened at UCLA’s Fowler Museum, Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya.  Focusing on the birth of Papunya art in 1971-72, the exhibition shows works from a group of Australian Aboriginal men who transferred their sacred ceremonial designs to masonite boards in the remote Papunya settlement.   Since then Australian Aboriginal art has become an international phenomenon with prices for the more established artists well into the six figures.  

Icons of the Desert includes over forty-nine important paintings, created by leading Papunya artists Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Johnny Warangkula Tjupurrula, and Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri, and others.

MORE COVERAGE:  Read Eric Hiss’ article on Wandermelon.com

RELATED EVENTS

Thursday, May 14, 2009 7 pm
Fowler OutSpoken Lecture with Benjamin Genocchio
Dollar Dreaming: The Rise of the Aboriginal Art Market
The book  Dollar Dreaming by New York Times art critic Benjamin Genocchio traces the dramatic growth of the Aboriginal art market, nearly non-existent in the 1970s and now estimated to be a $500-million-per-year industry. Genocchio presents excerpts from the book, featuring interviews with curators, collectors, and the artists themselves, and explores the somewhat tense and controversial phenomenon.

Sunday, May 31, 2009 2 pm 
Fowler OutSpoken Lecture with Vivien Johnson 
Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists 
The Papunya Tula Artists company is the founding force behind the Australian Aboriginal desert painting movement. Established in 1971–72, it is today the movement’s multi-million dollar flagship. Vivien Johnson, Global Professor at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, introduces her landmark publication tracing the history of this remarkable company and art movement with a lecture detailing the lives and works of selected painters of the more than two hundred artists in the movement. A book signing and reception follow.