About Our Australian Artists
James P Simon (b. 1957) is an Australian artist from the Wiradjuri Tribe in New South Wales who studied painting at the Eora Centre Arts College in Sydney. His works are in notable collections, including James Holmes a Court Collection, Australian National Gallery and the University of California, Santa Barbara. Simon’s work is recognized throughout the South Sydney area with his many public art pieces including, exposed murals and giant mosaic projects in the Sydney suburb of Redfern area where he continues to live and work.
Walangari Karntawarra (b. 1961 - ) is an exciting, sophisticated contemporary artist from Central Australia. He is an accomplished teacher whose artworks convey his dream for us, often utilising the traditional stories that he has inherited by birth.
Walangari, like the majority of artists, enjoys self-made success. He philosophises on the unofficial 5 - 8 year apprenticeship that most artists have to undergo and recounts his transformation from teacher to artist with the story telling finesse of a world weary traveller. Karntawarra's work tells about his life, family and hopes for humanity by drawing on the traditional stories and Dreamings he inherited by birth. He re-tells them in this ancient form of written language through unique and contemporary interpretation. As he writes,
"Aboriginal culture is one of abstraction, a collection of colourful concepts related to the rainbow. Through the rainbow snakes (our creators) we were able to achieve the sublime, and unified all cultural beliefs like the way the rainbow harmonises colours." - Karntawarra, Artist Statement (11 September 2000)
Walangari Karntawarra (b. 1961 - ) is an exciting, sophisticated contemporary artist from Central Australia. He is an accomplished teacher whose artworks convey his dream for us, often utilising the traditional stories that he has inherited by birth.
Walangari, like the majority of artists, enjoys self-made success. He philosophises on the unofficial 5 - 8 year apprenticeship that most artists have to undergo and recounts his transformation from teacher to artist with the story telling finesse of a world weary traveller. Karntawarra's work tells about his life, family and hopes for humanity by drawing on the traditional stories and Dreamings he inherited by birth. He re-tells them in this ancient form of written language through unique and contemporary interpretation. As he writes,
"Aboriginal culture is one of abstraction, a collection of colourful concepts related to the rainbow. Through the rainbow snakes (our creators) we were able to achieve the sublime, and unified all cultural beliefs like the way the rainbow harmonises colours." - Karntawarra, Artist Statement (11 September 2000)
