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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Australian Indigenous & Oceanic Art
• Sale Date:
  06 Jun 2016 ~ 6.30pm
• Lot #:
  28
• Lot Description:
  Paddy Bedford
  (1922-2007)
  Wirwirji - Police Hole (2004)
  natural earth pigments on linen
  122 x 135 cm
  initialled verso: ‘PB’
• Provenance:
  Jirrawun Aboriginal Arts Corporation, Western Australia (PB 6 2004.176); Private collection, Adelaide; Important Fine Art + Aboriginal Art, Deutscher and Hackett, Melbourne, 28 November 2012, lot 106 (illustrated); Private collection, Melbourne
• References:
  Russell Storer, Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006, pg.154 (illus.)
• Notes:
  Much has been written about Paddy Bedford the Lawman. We know that Law has allowed him to paint only his Mother’s country and his Father’s country. Coming to painting relatively late in his life he invented a new way of seeing the Kimberley that both respected his past and pushed new boundaries to present a contemporary vision of landscape and story. To be able to describe his work as contemporary art with strong links to his cultural past going back thousands and thousands of years is a unique proposition. This contemporary/historical reading of Paddy Bedford’s art has captured, intrigued and delighted many a collector both in Australia and internationally. The work offered here, Wirwirji – Police Hole (2004), boldly illustrates this connection between the historical and the contemporary. Police Hole, his Father’s country, is an important site for the White Cockatoo Dreaming that is central to many of the creation time stories from the Kimberley. This work can be read as both abstract and narrative, as overview and as horizontal landscape. The black areas represent ‘living country’ good for grazing cattle as noted from his days as a cattleman. The gestural pinkish tinged area that is either sky or country is a trademark of Paddy Bedford’s innovative oeuvre. This painting more than holds its own hanging next to any Australian contemporary masterpiece. William Mora
• Estimate:
  A$70,000 - 90,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Art

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.