PHILIP GUDTHAYKUDTHAY

Gudthaykudthay was the first Ramingining artist to have a solo show. His first recorded group exhibition was in 1979; called Traditions and Innovations, it was held at the Legislative Assembly in Darwin. In 1983 Gudthaykudthay had a solo exhibition in Sydney, at the Garry Anderson Gallery. The show consisted of bark paintings, mostly of moderate size, featuring Gudthaykudthay's minytji, or clan patterns. Many of these barks also had a badurru, hollow log, as their central motif. An innovative approach to Aboriginal art, most of the works were simply labelled Landscape 1, Landscape 2, and so on, with none of the ethnographic details which so often accompanied exhibitions. From this exhibition of around a dozen works, the National Gallery of Australia acquired two bark paintings depicting abstracted forms of the artist's country at Gunyungmirringa. The show was a sell out and much of the viewing public commented on the beauty of the works.

Gudthaykudthay is a member of Bula'bula Arts, an artist owned and operated art centre in Ramingining, central Arhmen Land. He has participated in numerous international exhibitions and is represented widely, including the Seattle Museum; Linden Museum; the British Museum; Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht; National Gallery of Australia; National Gallery of Victoria; Art Gallery of New South Wales; Art Gallery of South Australia; Kluge-Ruhe Collection, University of Virginia.