When in the middle of the eighties I
had moved from Sydney to the north of Queensland , one of the
most interesting aspects for me was to learn about the
culture of the Aboriginal people and in
particular of those of the Kuranda and Mossman
area. As an artist this was an opportunity not easy to let pass by .At
the time I was staying in a caravan park near Kuranda awaiting the
completion of my house. Among the many new friends I had made was Jimmy , an
Aboriginal artist . He was staying in an old caravan with his Dutch wive making
souvenirs for the markets that was regularly being held in
Kuranda.
He had told me much about his people
and their customs. The many problems they had encountered ever since the
arrival of the colonialist. But what interested me the most were the
many stories , anecdotes and legends about their living conditions
, their struggles with the elements. How they related to one and
another in general and to the environment they lived in. The
trees of the rainforest and of the many animals that lived
alongside their
lives and how much they existed together in such
perfect harmony. I had learned about their class system where their
elders are the law and how much they were honoured and obeyed
.
All that had intrigued me much
especially to realize that since my arrival to Australia in the late fifties
I had little knowledge about our indigenous people. I decided to put
many episodes of the many stories I had heard into images. A visit to a
local bookshop got me more surprised to see how much literature there
was available.
I had mainly put my interest into
the many legends and mythologies that there were available.
I also made an effort to meet with various tribe elders of
surrounding districts and learned as much as I could about the local
stories. With all these information I created two series ,
"Dreaming the dreamer" and "Exaltation" with close
to a hundred paintings much of which have gone to the United States of
America , bought by visiting guests.
As my house in Kuranda was not quite
finished I did much of the early work in my studio in Ubud, Bali
but left the creation of large canvasses when my
studio in Kuranda was completed. Next to the occasional showing of some
of my work in the many group shows we used to have in Cairns ,
I also run two successful one man's exhibitions. Much of my
work left for the USA and in particular to a Mexican lady who , at
that time was a resident of Miami, Florida.
She became so interested in my art
, buying as much as 20 canvasses , that she suggested me to go to Mexico
and try interpret
ancient Meso American cultures .This was an opportunity I could not easy
go passed and agreed to come over to Mexico and try.
In 1992 after the second exhibition
"Exaltation" I had left to stay for nearly three years in San
Miguel de Allende , Mexico. The work I did in that period you can see in
my files "Ave Azteca" and "Mayan Symposium".
Click on the titles to get there.
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