Since springing into prominence in the 1980s and 90s, the art of Utopia, 270 km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, has been lauded for its highly stylised and minimal form of painting, of bold and gestural or else intricately dotted canvases. Upon revisiting the early work from Utopia, represented in such major projects as A Picture Story, one encounters a neglected tradition in the art of that community that has escaped wide recognition, yet coexists alongside its better-know counterpart. It is in the spirit of reuniting these major and minor keys of Utopia art that the Mossenson Galleries presents two exhibitions of innovative new works by four artists from Utopia. The works in Arkerre thene Irretye (Night Owl and Eagle): New works by Dinni Kemarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre and A Tale of Two Sisters: New works by Gladdy and Ally Kemarre range from elegant and refined paintings of country and bush tucker through to offbeat and idiosyncratic carvings of animals and figures. The exhibitions will be opened on Wednesday 28 March at 6pm, in conversation with Dinni Kemarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre. Their visit and exhibition coincides with the opening of Centre Bounce: Indigenous Carving by Dinni Kemarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre, on display at Melbourne’s AFL World on Swanston Street.

Dinni Kemarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre live on their traditional lands at the remote outstation of Pungalindum in Utopia, with their five sons, four daughters and four grandchildren. Josie comes from a highly respected artistic family – her mother is Polly Kngale and her aunts are Kathleen Kngale and Angelina Pwerle. Having attended school as a girl in Alice Springs, she has been involved in the Utopia art movement since the late '80s, when she produced batik works and paintings on canvas. Prior to becoming an artist, her husband Dinni worked as a young man at many stations in the Eastern desert, branding and mustering cattle at Utopia Station, Waite River Station and Amaroo Station. Dinni and Josie’s recent work has been exhibited to acclaim in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, while Josie's earlier works toured Europe in several major group exhibitions.

In early 2005, Josie began making sculptures, beginning with an eccentric menagerie of birds, animals and human figures painted in ceremonial dress. She added new and unexpected objects to her repertoire, incorporating other aspects of life at Utopia – Toyotas, police cars and tables and chairs. Dinni soon joined Josie in producing these carvings, and all of the sculptures produced since have been the result of their collaborative labour. Experimenting and drawing inspiration from their surrounds, they use wild colours and unexpected forms, carving with a flair and dynamism that is underpinned by an assured and perceptive vision. Their quirky figuration incorporates the everyday objects of postcolonial reality into an image world that also includes ceremony and custodianship of country, underlining the extraordinary ability of Indigenous myth to incorporate the settler world into a highly mutable and adaptive cosmology.

In 2006 Dinni and Josie embarked on a major project, carving sixteen sculptures of AFL football players – one from each club in the league. These included well known players like Nathan Buckley, Chris Judd, Michael Long, and Aaron Davey. These sculptures came to the attention of curator Phil Manning at AFL World, who invited Dinni and Josie to exhibit at AFL World. The resulting exhibition, Centre Bounce goes on display from 28 March and explores the central role of football to remote Indigenous communities. Arkerre thene Irretye (Night Owl and Eagle) is presented to coincide with this important public exhibition, and aims to explore the many facets of these two artists practice, which includes a whimsical and eccentric repertoire of sculptures and paintings. Dinni and Josie will be traveling to Melbourne for the exhibition. It will be the first time that Dinni has ever left the Northern Territory.

Alongside Arkerre thene Irretye (Night Owl and Eagle), The Mossenson Galleries are also pleased to present a very exhibition from Gladdy Kemarre Gladdy paints alkwe, the bush plum, their Dreaming story given to her by their Grandmother. Viewed from above, the changing seasonal colours of the bush plum dominate the flora on the ground in Ahalpere country. The story of the bush plum is crucial to Anmatyerre women’s ceremonies, and intertwines with that of the whole country. Their vital and delicate paintings are rich in depth, subtlety and sheer vibrancy and energy of colour and design. Shimmering constellations of fruit emerge in these paintings from tiny points of colour that are meticulously worked into shifting layers.

Gladdy’s monochrome paintings represent her traditional Ahalpere country in intermittently stuttering and sweeping sheets of white dots that, transposed over a dark ground, culminate in dramatic and vertiginous imagery of desert terrain. Also included in the exhibition are a number of carved sculptures of birds by Gladdy that exude a nonchalant grace that is persistently counterpointed by a bold, idiosyncratic use of colour and a charmingly eccentric sense of character.

Involved in the Utopia art movement since its inception, Gladdy (born c. 1950) lives with their extended family in Ahalpere country, in the southwest of Utopia. Like Josie Kunoth Petyarre, they started as artists using batik during the celebrated CAAMA projects of the 1980s, and participated in the landmark Utopia: A Picture Story batik project that launched the reputation of the Utopia art movement. They commenced painting during A Summer Project: Utopia Women’s Painting (First Works on Canvas) 1988-89, and have since participated in numerous exhibitions across Australia, Europe and Asia. Their art has developed remarkably in the past two years, and a successful exhibition of their new work was held at The Mossenson Galleries in Perth in 2006. Works by Gladdy are held by numerous major public and private collections throughout Australia and internationally, including the National Gallery of Australian and the National Gallery of Victoria.

The Mossenson Galleries is very proud to presents these two exhibitions of innovative work from one of Australia’s most beloved art-producing communities. Arkerre thene Irretye (Night Owl and Eagle) and Gladdy Kemarre: The First Solo Show, with Dinni Kemarre and Josie Kunoth Petyarre in attendance, on Wednesday 28 March 2007 at 41 Derby Street, Collingwood on Wednesday 28 March. For further information please contact The Mossenson Galleries on (03) 9417 6694 or collingwood@mossensongalleries.com.au.