‘Lofty’ Bardayal Nadjamerrek

Aboriginal artist, Lofty Nadjamerrek begun his art career as a youth, painting on rocks in the region of the headwaters of the Liverpool river, south of Maningrida in the Northern Territory. He has excelled in bark painting over a period of at least thirty years and now at Gunbalanya also produces work on paper of exceptional quality. He is one of the foremost exponents of the x-ray style of painting of the region. His rock paintings of a kangaroo, emu, goats, and a horse and rider survive in shelters at Kodwalehwaleh in the Djordi clan estate. As opposed to many other artists in western Arnhem Land who now make use of multi coloured cross-hatching to infill their works, Lofty prefers to use x-ray details in association with parallel line hatching in red – a feature of his rock country heritage. Lofty was initiated to the full complement of western Arnhem Land ceremonies and is now widely recognized as a leader in a number of them. He began painting for the market at Oenpelli in 1969. His works depict in intricate detail a wide variety of different animal species and more lately, in the works on paper, tableaux of the major western Arnhem Land ceremonies. Lofty is particularly well known for his images of Yingana and Ngalyod the rainbow serpents and the paintings emphasize the transformational powers of these beings. A commissioned mural of the subject adorns the foyer of Darwin Airport. In 1992 Lofty was commissioned to produce a painting for use on the Australian forty cent stamp.

His work has toured nationally and internationally and is held in several prestigious collections both in Australia and overseas.

Northern Territory News – Jan 2004

Artist Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek Joining is one of a dozen Northern Territorians who received Australia Day awards today. Mr Nadjamerrek, a western Arnhem Land artist, has received an Officer of the Order of Australia. A respected artist for 50 years, his works feature in the Darwin International Airport, but another of his roles has been to assist the Northern Land Council with sustainable land management techniques. Nadjamerrek has also helped preserve and pass on traditional ceremonies and culture to his people.

Click here to view the Exhibitions, commissions, collections and awards

Commissions:

1982, One of Lofty’s paintings was used on the Australian 40c stamp issued in 1982.

Awards:

1999, Winner, works on paper, National Aboriginal Art Award, NT Museum of Arts and Sciences, Darwin.

2004, Australia Day Honours: Named an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia

Collections:

Artbank, Sydney.

Australian Museum, Sydney.

Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council held by the National Museum of Canberra.

Berndt Museum of Anthropology, University of Western Australia.

Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Arnotts Collection, Sydney.

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

National Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.

University of Queensland, Anthropology Museum, St Lucia.

Solo Exhibitions:

2006 – Bim Yolyolmi: Picture Told Story, Mossenson Galleries, Melbourne; Late Works, Annandale

Galleries, Sydney, NSW.

2005 – Bardayal Lofty Nadjamerrek AO, Dianne Mossenson Gallery, Melbourne.

2004 Lofty Bardayal Nadjamerrek, New Work on Bark, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.
2003 – Kubulwarnamyo Kunred Ngarduk – My Country Kubulwarnamyo, Annandale Galleries, Sydney.

Exhibitions:

2007 – National Indigenous Art Triennial 07, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
2007 – 24th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Continuity: Culture, Country and Family, Mossenson Galleries, Melbourne.
2006 – Spirit Country, Galerie lARTicle, Paris, France; Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition,

Parliament House, Darwin, Northern Territory.

2005 – One Way a group show of painters from the Stone country, Raft Art Space, Darwin; 22nd Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.

2004 – Crossing Country – the Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land Art, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney;
2004 – Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT,

2003 – Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, 1995 – Moon, Rainbow and Sugar bag – The art of Mick Kubarkku and Bardayal Nadjamerrek, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, and touring;

Page 2

1995 – The Twelfth National Aboriginal Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin.

1994 – Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria; The Eleventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra.

1993 – The Tenth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin; Australian Heritage Commission National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra.

1992 – The Ninth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin

1990 – The Seventh National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin

1988 – Aboriginal art of the Top End, c. 1935-Early 1970s, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; The Inspired Dream, Life as art in Aboriginal Australia, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and touring internationally

1987 – The Fourth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT

1986 – The Art of the First Australians, Kobe City Museum, Japan; The Third National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1985 – The Second National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, Darwin.

1984/85 – Kunwinjku Bim, Western Arnhem Land Paintings from the collection of the Aboriginal Arts Board, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

1984 – The First National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the NT

1983 – Artists of Arnhem Land, Canberra School of Arts, Canberra.

1982 – Aboriginal Art at the Top, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
1975 – Australian Bark Painting, from the collection of Dr. Edward L. Ruhe, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA.

Select Bibliography:

Aboriginal Arts Board of the Australia Council,1979, Oenpelli Bark Painting, Ure Smith, Sydney. (C)

Brody, A., 1984, Kunwinjku Bim: Western Arnhem Land Paintings from the Collection of the Aboriginal Arts Board, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. (C)

Ruhe, E. L., 1975, Australian bark painting, from the collection of Dr. Edward L. Ruhe, exhib. cat. Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Michigan, USA.

West, M., (ed.), 1995, Rainbow Sugarbag and Moon, Two Artists of the Stone Country: Bardayal Nadjamerrek and Mick Kubarkku, exhib. cat., Museum and Art Gallery of the NT

1994, Kunwinjku Art from Injalak 1991-1992, The John W. Kluge Commission, Museum Arts International Pty. Ltd., North Adelaide.

Altman, J., and Cook, P., 1982, Aboriginal Art at the Top, exhib. cat., Maningrida Literature Production Centre, Maningrida.

Perkins, Hetti and Willsteed, Theresa (eds.), Crossing Country – the Alchemy of Western Arnhem Land Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2004.

Togart Contemporary Art Exhibition, Top End Arts Marketing, Darwin, 2006.

West, M.K.C., (ed.), 1988, The Inspired Dream, Life as art in Aboriginal Australia, exhib. cat., Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Northern Territory News – Jan 2004

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