Linear invention: Nonggirrnga Marawili and Leo Loomans at the Drill Hall, Canberra

Abstract

This unusual exhibition brings together the work of two artists, previously unknown to each other, whose media and materials, cultural heritage and artistic formation are vastly different. Yolngu painter Nonggirrnga Marawili is a revered Elder of the Madarrpa people in Yirrkala, Northeast Arnhem Land, and underwent a long apprenticeship in painting, traditionally a male preserve in Yolngu culture, as part of a distinguished family of artists. Sculptor Leo Loomans, New Zealand-born, of Dutch heritage, educated in Warrang/Sydney and based in Kamberri/Canberra, works at the intersection of two distinct sculptural traditions: a process in which found fragments of machinery are cut, twisted and welded together in improvised assemblages; and the tradition of ‘drawing in space’ pioneered by Spanish sculptor Julio González, in works produced in collaboration with Picasso around 1930. Show more