Bob & Mary
22.06.2022—
23.07.2022
Bob & Mary presents the work of two of Tjarlirli Art’s most dedicated and inspiring artists: mother and son duo Mary and Bob Gibson. Their paintings do not immediately evidence this close familial connection, showcasing such different styles. Yet these two distinct styles mirror both the personalities and approaches to painting of each artist. ”
— Riley McPherson
Bob enjoys telling the stories from his father’s country around Patjarr and his mother’s country Kulkurta. He paints about two snakes and two men who travelled north to Karrkurinkitja. As the party travelled, some strangers came up behind them and the snakes fled. Then Kurningka (boss of the Tingari men) went looking. The clouds were coming towards them. The snakes were travelling fast and the water was rising, and the lady snake went in the ant’s hole but the other snake was left outside. Kurningka was saying, ‘water is coming closer’ but the other snake was too big for the hole. The Kurningka cut the snake and a lot of fat came out. ”
— Tjarlirli Art
All the ladies, kungka pirni, all the young ladies. Sitting down, making Kampurrampa (bush berries), Wangurnu (grain), eating lots of bush foods. Sitting next to those rockholes. Ngayulu palyanyi tali, puli, munu kapi kulupa kutjarra. I paint the sandhills, hills, rocks and the two little rockholes there, not big ones, little ones. ”
— Mary Gibson
Looking at a Bob Gibson painting feels a little like spending time with the artist himself. Bob’s bold, playful presence in the studio is contagious; each canvas brings wild shapes and expressive lines met with decisive mark-making and confident realisation of country. ”
— Tjarlirli Art
The conversation between Bob and Mary’s paintings is evidence of the uniqueness and diversity of Ngaanyatjarra art practice. Both Mary and Bob have travelled widely across the Western Desert and spent time in almost all communities in this area. The works in this exhibition are a testament to the ever-continuing evolution of Ngaanyatjarra art as a conversation between ancient knowledge, individual practice and contemporary desert life. ”
— Riley McPherson
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