ARTISTS |
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Billy Benn Perrurle b. 1943, Aretyerre (Harts Range), Northern Territory Billy Benn Perrurle was born in 1943 in Aretyerre (Harts Range). His two older sisters, Ally and Gladdy Kemerre, both celebrated artists of the Utopia community, taught him how to paint on skin, whilst living at Urapuntja. His father concentrated on making traditional artefacts such as wooden sculptures, boomerangs and spears. Throughout his youth, Billy Benn worked in a number of positions for mining companies and cattle stations in the Eastern Arrente region of Central Australia. The opportunity to work at Bindi Centasales in Alice Springs provided him with the opportunity to retell his knowledge of his father's country of Mount Swann and his own country, Harts Range. According to Billy Benn, his aim is to paint every hill of his country, and when completed, he plans to return home. The artist's traditional life and history remain intensely important to him. With a lack of resources and a modest aim, Billy Benn began to paint on discarded boards provided by the Alice Springs Timber Mill. Billy Benn's work displays a sophisticated knowledge of light and space. The rolling ranges of his country, painted in deep reds, thick with gloss, are reminiscent of the work of Albert Namitjira in its powerfully concise rendition of the Australian desert landscape. |
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