Aboriginal Painting: Paddy Sims Japaljarri

Paddy Sims Japaljarri ABOUT THE ARTWORK This Aboriginal painting shows traditional practices associated with the burning of areas of Spinifex country. The fires are lit so that liwirringki (burrowing skinks), lizards and small mammals are driven from their burrows and hiding places. This allows them to hunt them more easily and also promotes the fertility of the land. This ancient practice has been practiced for thousands of years by the aborigines of Australia. In this work, Paddy Sims Japaljarri, who is one of the eminent initiates of his clan, also evokes the male ceremonies of homage to the ancestors performed by these nomads steeped in spirituality in the central Australian desert. ABOUT PADDY SIMS JAPALJARRI Paddy was born in 1917. He is married to Bessie Sims Nakamarra, also a well-known artist and important initiate in his community. He was one of the first generation of aboriginal artists at the origin of the pictorial movement in Yuendumu and saw his fame become international during his trip to Paris in 1989, when he was invited to present his works on the occasion of the famous exhibition "The Magicians of the Earth" at the Georges Pompidou center. In 2000, he engraved with Paddy Stewart 30 plates from which we were going to make small-format engravings: it was with this very special work that the two men won the prize in the “best work on paper” category at the prestigious Testra Award. An essential artist and presented today as one of the founding representatives of contemporary Aboriginal painting, his works are present in all the major Australian public collections as well as at the Jacques Chirac Museum in Paris. Awards received by this artist: 2001. Awards, Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Darwin (Australia) Her works are present in many collections: Araluen Arts Center, Alice Springs (Australia) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (Australia) Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (Australia) Australian National Gallery, Canberra (Australia) Australian Museum, Sydney (Australia) Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (Australia) Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (Australia) Art Gallery and Museums, Glasgow, Scotland (Scotland) Donald Kahn Collection (United States) Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide (Australia) Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra (Australia) Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane (Australia) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin (Australia) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Australia) Powerhouse Museum, Sydney (Australia) Seatle Art Museum, Seattle (United States) South Australi an Museum, Adelaide (Australia) The Christensen Fund The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica (United States) Jacques Chirac-Quai Branly Museum, Paris (France) Main personal and group exhibitions: 1989. “Les Magiciens de la terre”, Center Pompidou and Halle de la Villette, Paris (France)