Lot 4: WEAVER JACK, (c.1928 – 2010), LUNGARUNG, 2007, synthetic polymer paint on linen

WEAVER JACK, (c.1928 – 2010), LUNGARUNG, 2007, synthetic polymer paint on linen

SIGNED:
bears inscription verso: artist’s name, date, medium, size and Short Street Gallery cat. 24213

DIMENSIONS:
138.0 x 97.0 cm

PROVENANCE:
Short Street Gallery, Broome
AP Bond Gallery, Adelaide
The Luczo Family Collection, USA

ESSAY:
This painting is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Short Street Gallery that states: ‘Weaver Jack paints her traditional country south of Well 33 on the Canning Stock Route. When she first started to paint, the outlines of the country were laid bare on the canvas. Like a skeleton of the country, slowly she reclaimed this country dotting over it loosely at first. She said these were her people walking all around that country, collecting mayi (bush food) and hunting for kuwi (meat). Slowly the country merged with the people. It was then she started putting herself in the paintings and through her paintings, Weaver managed to reclaim her country.

Each turn of her brush captures the intimacy in which she knows her subject. It is an intimacy that is almost impossible to comprehend. It is an extension of herself. She takes discordant colours which represent all things she eats and the seemingly disordered is transformed and placed very deliberately in its right place, revealing perfection. For Weaver, she and her land are inseparable: they are the same. We realise this does not fit in with conventional Western views of portraiture, but portraiture is about extending our perceptions of who we are. To understand Weaver, one must know her land, because they exist together and define each other.’