Breaking The Square

Roger Kemp & Bob Gibson

31 Aug

2024

2024

-

18 Sep

2024

Opening event Saturday 31st August, 3-5pm, all welcome

In collaboration with the Roger Kemp Trust and Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art, cbOne Gallery brings together the timeless works of two visionary groundbreaking painters Roger Kemp (1908 – 1987) and Bob Gibson Tjungarrayi (b.1974).

This exhibition celebrates the metaphysical vision and distinctive stylistic expression through two pioneers of contemporary art from different times, places and cultures.

Roger Kemp is a leading figure in Australian art history for his personal vision that pushed Modernist ideals into a unique futuristic consciousness. From early Cubism with its synesthetic and mystic approach to abstraction, Roger Kemp pursued his own visual language of the subconscious structure of nature. His mature paintings are highly complex compositions of geometric forms revealing a cosmic order as spiritual and monumental.

Bob Gibson is a recognisable trailblazer right now for his distinctive personal expression of ancestral knowledge. Descending from artists who founded the Western Desert aboriginal art movement in the 1970’s, including grandparents Yala Yala Gibbs Tjungurrayi and Ningura Napurrula, Bob Gibson renders ancient iconographies and sacred geography in gestural markings and command of contemporary colour.

Both artists hold their own power in their individual compulsive energy that is felt in the raw brushstrokes and dynamic compositions that pulsate with colour and form. Together these works emanate a metaphysical cosmology that is beyond time and space.

Roger Kemp is presented courtesy of Roger Kemp Trust and Bob Gibson is presented courtesy of Tjarlirli & Kaltukatjara Art.

Installation View

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Artworks

Artworks

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Artist Profile/s

Bob Gibson

(

)

Born in

Born

1974

Papunya

Lives in

Tjukurla Community

Skin:

Tjungurrayi

Language:

Ngaanyatjarra, Pintupi

Bob Gibson Tjungurrayi was born at Papunya in 1974, before moving with his family to the small community of Tjukurla during the outstation movement of the 1980s. This was a time when many Ngaanyatjarra people moved from government outposts near to Alice Springs back into the Western Desert to be closer to their ancestral homelands. Bob's mother, Mary Gibson, is also a leading Tjarlirli artist whose Country is at Kulkurta, deep in the Western Desert, while his father’s country was near Patjarr on the edge of the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve.

Bob began painting with Tjarlirli Art in 2007, and quickly found a unique rhythm and approach to mark-making; his style is characterised by bold colours and an inimitable freedom of movement, expressing ancient stories with contemporary flair. Bob is a vibrant character who is well loved within his community and provides support to many family members. He is a keen Sydney Swans supporter and loves listening to all music, especially the local bush bands.

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. His highly unique representations of Tjukurrpa (Dreaming stories) are an intersection of traditional storytelling and a spirited contemporary artistic practice. Bob's work is significant for the way it speaks to the complex layers and tensions between cultural, historical and modern influences, and challenges characterisations of what 'real' Aboriginal art looks like.

Courtesy of Tjarlirli and Kaltukatjara Art

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