SOL Gallery, Fitzroy, Victoria; 26 November – 8 December 2024
Review by Margaret Cassidy
The vibrancy, colour, cultural depth, diversity and life of Australia’s closest neighbour was on show in this exhibition of mostly self-taught artists from Papua New Guinea seen in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy in late 2024.
Thirty nine artists from all over Papua New Guinea contributed 113 artworks to this exhibition of varied styles with roughly thirty five of the artworks on exhibition at any one time.
For Australian-born curator Don Wotton who lived and worked in PNG for many years, this Not For Profit exhibition under the trading name of ‘Paradise Palette’ is a labour of love, a work in progress to support and promote the next generation of artists from PNG.
Most of the artists are self-taught, selling their art in the markets and on the streets of Port Moresby, often across from the hotels frequented by foreign visitors. Declining numbers of international tourists to PNG in recent years has encouraged Don and his team including artist and PNG-based Art Coordinator Clement Koys to find sponsors to fund transport costs to bring this art to Australia. After a number of years being hosted by the Royal Queensland Art Society (Brisbane Inc) at the Petrie Terrace Gallery in Brisbane, Don has sourced support for exhibitions in Darwin and Cairns in 2023 and now Melbourne in 2024.
The exhibition is a mixture of styles, colours and includes black and white stylised images captured with marker pen as well as the tropical palette of reds, jungle greens, luscious yellows and other tones in acrylics. Inspiration comes from the bird of paradise and other exotic fauna, the rugged scenery, diverse cultural heritage and village life.
Many of the artists are directly influenced by the pioneer contemporary artist and printmaker Mathius Kauage acclaimed for his boldly colourful paintings of a world radically changing around him in the late 20th century with many of his works depicting cars, trucks, helicopters and planes. Artists included in this exhibition include Kiuye Siune, widow of artist John Siune who is related by marriage to Kauage, Kauage’s nephew and adopted son Apa Hugo and extended members of the Kauage and Siune families – Rose Siune’s works include a very colourful acrylic on canvas PMV while Ambane Siune explores human interest and relationships in Sugar Daddy and Queen Mosquito.
Stylised black and white drawings are overlaid with colour in the works of Ambane Siune, Apa Hugo, Rose Kaipu and Andy Nombri while Andrew Kayanu’s Market Day uses acrylic work on batik. Veteran grass roots artist John Danger’s layered colour over black and white provides levels of complexity in Waterfowl and Lilypads. The continuing interplay of traditional practices and modern technology is seen in Dickson Towa’s marker pen on canvas rendition Aeroplane Overhead of Paddlers while Malcolm Mairi has incorporated traditional tribal designs in vivid red, ochre and black acrylic shades in his Sepik Tableau.
The exhibition also includes works from Jane Wena, one of very few senior women artists in PNG’s contemporary art movement, who is also one of the few artists to have studied art at a tertiary level, graduating in Graphic Art from the University of PNG.
This initiative fosters cross cultural exchanges between art communities in PNG and Australia. This exhibition has been supported by the PNG Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the PNG National Cultural commission.
