Spotlight on Aboriginal artist Kathleen Petyarre

Kathleen Petyarre was an Australian Aboriginal artist whose work was first recognized at the Aboriginal Art from Utopia exhibition in Melbourne in 1989.

However, she did not become famous until 1996 when her first solo exhibition, Kathleen Petyarre: Storm in Atnangkere Country, sold out at Alcaston House Gallery in Melbourne. Then, she won the Telstra art prize in Darwin in 1996.

Her paintings have occasionally been compared to the works of American Abstract Expressionists Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, and even to those of J.M.W. Turner.

Petyarre’s success is due in part to her distinctive painting style, which combines bold colors with intricate patterns inspired by her ancestors’ Dreamtime stories. But it also reflects her deep connection to her culture and country. As she once said, “My painting comes from my dreaming and my country… If I don’t put that down on canvas, it will be lost forever.”

She developed her “dot painting” technique by layering very fine dots of thin acrylic paint onto the canvas, which evoked the Aboriginal custom of ceremonial body painting. The dots were used to represent various elements in Petyarre’s abstract landscapes, including flowers, spinifex, clouds of sand, hail, or bush seeds. Meanwhile, various shapes and colours were used to depict geographical features such as sand-hills, watercourses, and rock holes. Her imagery has been described as “simultaneously macro- and microcosmic”.

Petyarre’s dot paintings are now held in collections all over the world, and she is widely considered to be one of Australia’s most significant artists. Her works are in great demand at auctions and is considered one of the “most collectable artists in Australia”.

Browse our collection of Kathleen Petyarre’s artwork by through our Arts page. Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of her work!