Medium/ Form:
Bark painting,
ochres on bark, colour lithograph, bark coffin, carved and painted hollow log
coffin, stringybark canoe. Gumung derrka, goose canoe, lithographic prints,
carving, ochres on canvas
Subjects and Themes:
Common subjects are Gumang , the magpie
goose, and Garjarr, the water snake, amongst waterlilies in the swamp country
at Djilibunyumurr (see P. Cooke and J. Altman, 1982). The Dreaming figure
Yangagai looks after this country. His home is said to be Gutitjwirrka. Other
figures associated with these lands are Warnyu, the flying fox, Gunungurr, the
black headed python, Barnda, the freshwater tortoise, Diljidambe , a brown
water beetle eaten by the tortoises and Lidgilidgi, finches. These finches and
magpie goose are danced by the Ganalbingu people at Marradjiri (ceremony to
celebrate the birth of a child), Djapi
(initiation) and Murukundjeh (mortuary) ceremonies.
Awards/Grants/Commissions:
Murals:
1977, Completed a mural at the Department of Defence, Canberra.
1993, FAC Darwin Airport Commission-painting on permanent display in
Darwin Airport Foyer
Awards:
1984, Awarded Aboriginal Arts Board Professional Development Grant.
1987, Awarded Aboriginal Arts Board Professional Development Grant.
1991, Full Professional Fellowship, from the Aboriginal Arts Unit of
the Australia Council for the Arts.
2001, Winner, best works on
bark, National Aboriginal Art Award, NT Museum of Arts, Darwin.
Commissions:
1979, Print Commission, Aboriginal Artists Agency,through the Mal
Studio, Melbourne.
1984, Produced a number of lithographs for the Canberra School of Art.
Collections
held:
Artbank, Sydney.
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Central Collection, Australian National University, Canberra.
Djomi Museum, Maningrida.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide.
Milingimbi Collection, MECA, Milingimbi Educational and Cultural
Association.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Maningrida Collection, Sydney.
John Bulunbulun Page 2
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra.
The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.
The Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, U.S.A.
Select
Exhibitions:
Individual
Exhibitions:
2005 – John
Bulunbulun & Tommy Gondorra Steele, It’s All About Country, Alcaston
Gallery, Melbourne.
2003 – Djilibunyumurr – Ganalbingu Land, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne,
Vic.
1984 – Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne.
1981 – Hogarth Galleries, Sydney;
Group
Exhibitions:
2013 – Death
and Life: Rukuny Ga Walnga, Contemporary Arnhem Land Art, featuring John
Bulunbulun, Mickey Durrng, Philip Gudthaykudthay, Nawurapu Wunungmurra,
Anniebell Marngamarrnga, John Mawurndjul, Bob Burruwal, Gulumbu Yunupingu and
Yanggarriny Wunungmurra at the QAG of Modern Art, Brisbane.
2009 – With the Grain, Against the Grain – Paintings, sculptures and
weavings from Maningrida, featuring the folloing artists – John Bulunbun,
Timothy Wulanjbirr, Tommy Gondorra Steele, Irenie Ngalinba, Anniebell
Marrngamarrnga, Emmanuel Wurrkidj, Jimmy Ngalakurn, Aileena Lamanga and Elyssa
Cameron at the Mossenson Galleries, Perth, WA.
2009 – Spiral Wind including the following artists: John Mawurndjul,
Ivan Namirrki, Owen Yalandja, Timothy Wulanjbirr, Kay Lindjuwanga, John
Bulunbulun, James Iyuna, Irenie Ngalinba, Samson Bonson, Joy Garlbin, Aileena
Lamanga and Elysse Cameron at Annandale Galleries, Sydney.
2008 – Maningrida Arts , Melba Gunjarrwanga; Tommy Gondorra Steele; John
Bulunbulun; Ivan Namirrkki; Bronwyn Kelly; Josephine Wurrkidj; Hamish
Karrkarrhba; Susan Marawarr; Belinda Kuriniya; Dustin Bonson; Charlie
Nangukwirrk; Stephen Kawurlkku; Marina Murdilnga; Lulu Laradjbi; Frewa
Bardaluna; Indra Prudence; Mary Nalmalakka; Bonny Burarn.garra; Cecina
Mardjuwa; Yolanda Rostron; Lena Yarinkura; Jorraine Cameron, at Hogarth
Gallery, Sydney.
2007 – Sacred Waters, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne; 24th Telstra
National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art
Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
2006-2007 – Gifted:
Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Mollie Gowing Acquisition Fund, Art
Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
2005 – New Acquisitions: Indigenous Australian Art, Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane.
1994 – Maningrida Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
1993/4 – ARATJARA, Art of the First Australians, Touring: Kunstammlung
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf; Hayward Gallery, London; Louisiana Museum,
Humlebaek, Denmark
1993 – Ten years of acquisitions from ANU collection, Drill Hall Gallery
ACT;
Ten years of acquisitions from ANU collection, Drill Hall Gallery ACT
1992/3 – New Tracks Old Land: An Exhibition of Contemporary Prints from
Aboriginal Australia, touring USA and Australia
1992 – Crossroads-Towards a New Reality, Aboriginal Art from Australia,
National Museums of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo
1990 – Balance 1990: views, visions, influences, Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane; Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland, Art
Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
1989 – Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of
Australia, Canberra
John Bulunbulun Page 3
1988 – Australian Aboriginal Graphics from the Collection of the Flinders
University Art Museum
1987 – Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
1986 – Ramingining Art Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs,
NT; The Art of the First Australians, Kobe City Museum, Japan; My
Country, My Story, My Painting: Recent Paintings by Twelve Arnhem Land Artists,
National Gallery of Australia exhibition at the Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra
1985 – South Pacific Festival of Arts, Townsville
1984 – Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
1983 – Artists of Arnhem Land, Canberra School of Arts
Select Bibliography:
Moon,
Dianne.[curator] Death and Life: Rukuny
Ga Walnga, Contemporary Arnhem Land Art, Queensland Art Gallery,
Brisbane, 2013.(C)
Butler, R., 1986, ‘From dreamtime to machine time,’ Imprint 21(3-4), 9. (C)
Caruana, W., 1987, Australian Aboriginal Art, a Souvenir Book of Aboriginal Art
in the Australian National Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Parkes,
Australian Capital Territory. (C)
Caruana, W. (ed.),
1989, Windows on the Dreaming, Ellsyd Press, Sydney. (C)
Caruana, W., 1993, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, London. (C)
Isaacs, J., 1984, Australia’s Living Heritage, Arts of the Dreaming, Lansdowne
Press, Sydney. (C)
Isaacs, J., 1989, Australian Aboriginal Paintings, Weldon Publishing, New South
Wales.
Langton, M., 1992-93 ‘The two women looked back over their shoulders &
lamented leaving their country: detached comment (recent urban) & symbolic
narrative (traditional),’ Aboriginal Art in the Public Eye, Art Monthly
Australia Supplement, 7-9. (C)
Aratjara, Art of the First Australians: Traditional and Contemporary Works by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists, 1993, exhib. cat. (conceived and
designed by Bernard Luthi in collaboration with Gary Lee), Dumont, Buchverlag,
Koln. (C)
NT News, 27/12/1993, p. 6.
O’Ferrall, M., 1990, Keepers of the Secrets, Aboriginal Art from Arnhemland in
the Collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of Western
Australia, Perth. (C)
Reser, J., 1977, ‘Djakaldjirrparr: explanation of a mural painted by Johnny
Bulun Bulun as told to Joseph Reser,’ Australian Institute of Aboriginal
Studies Newsletter 8, 79-83.
Reser, J., 1977, ‘The dwelling as motif in Aboriginal bark painting’. In Ucko,
P. (ed.), Form in Indigenous Art, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies,
Canberra.
Tweedie, P. and Scollay, C., 1979, ‘Art of the Aboriginal,’ Panorama: the
Journal of Ansett Airlines Australia 21 (2), 1,4. (C)
Tweedie, P., 1985, This My Country, A View of Arnhem Land, William Collins Pty
Ltd, Sydney.
NT News,
27/12/1993, p. 6.
