Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr
Catalogue
Gordon Barney
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Biographics
Birthdate: ca. 1944 Birrno
Language Group: Gija
Gordon Barney was born near Birrno, which is his country. It lies near the main homestead of Alice Downs cattle ranch, where the artist worked as a drover (cowboy) as a young man. Gordon Barney is married to the artist Shirley Purdie, who in 1998 first encouraged him to paint. Gordon Barney is an important dancer at community ceremonies and a lawman.
Paintings
(No. 140) (Sold)Birrno, 1998
Natural pigments on canvas, 80 x 120,5 cm
This place is in Gordon Barney´s country, not far from Alice Downs Homestead. Here there is a spring that never runs dry and which feeds a large rockhole and river (grey) that flows to Fourteen Mile Hole. Birrno Hill is the big black hill at front left which can be seen from the Great Northern Highway in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. You can only walk to this place as the gap in the ranges is too narrow for motor cars. When Gordon Barney worked on Alice Downs Station as a stockman he used to come here for holidays and to "hunt porcupine and kangaroo".
(No. 282) (Sold)Eagle and Crow Dreaming, 2003
Natural pigments on canvas, 30,5 x 40 cm
This painting depicts the Ngarrangkarni (Dreamtime) story for Warrman (meaning ´a place to make camp´). This story took place just behind the present day Warmun community. In the Dreamtime these animals were people. The Eaglehawk and his wife the Crow were sitting either side of a patch of white rock (quartz). The Eaglehawk was busy making spearheads from the hard quartz rock and asked the Crow to help. Eaglehawk was getting ready to hunt for kangaroo. First he built up a fire of hot rocks so that he would have somewhere to cook the kangaroo. Again Eaglehawk asked Crow to help, but she refused. Eaglehawk went out hunting and came back with a small fat girl kangaroo. When he got back to camp, Crow was asleep. In anger the Eaglehawk threw a piece of quartz rock at the crow, striking her in the eye. And took the hot rocks from the fire and burnt crow all over for being so lazy. They both turned into birds, and that is why crows are black with a white circle around their eyes. In the hill behind Warmun you can still see the white quartz camp of crow and eagle.
Impressum
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Last changed on 2005-03-26
