ROBERT CAMPBELL JNR
1944-1992, AustraliaAs one of the first prominent Aboriginal artists, Robert Campbell Jnr belonged to the Ngaku people, whose traditions were facing extinction in the face of European rule. Yet his father- a known boomerang maker- would take him into the Macleay River bushes where they searched for materials and painted landscapes for the tourist trade. Later the artist developed this into his trademark style: bold compositions that recalled the recent history of Aboriginal-European contact. His cartoon like paintings depict episodes of brutal colonial practices that attempted to 'breed out' an entire race, and then forcing them into a state of poverty, as well as scenes of idyllic communal life- a Paradise lost.
His practice draws on the rock painting and the decorative techniques of south-eastern Aborigines as well as the spiritual dimension that makes up the foundations of their daily experience of nature. The strongly narrative character of his paintings reconcile his own personal, and traumatic, experiences with a sense of optimism for the cultural and social relations of Australia.
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