Josie Petrick Kemarre is a full blooded Aboriginal from the Arrente/Anmetjerrra Tribe. Josie comes from Utopia, an Aboriginal owned cattle station, located North East of Alice Springs.
Josie has emerged as a bold and innovative artist, painting her Dreamings and the Landscape of "Her Country". Josie has taken the dot style of painting to new heights with her aerial depictions of her desert birthplace and surrounding traditional country. Josie has been painting since she was a teenager, but has emerged since the late 1980’s as a leading Utopian artist.
Some of her stories are inherited from her late grandmother, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who was a very successful artist late in life, and painted depictions of the desert and its plant life changing with the seasons and life giving rains.
Josie has artworks Holmes a’ Court Collection and many private and public collections.
Her main Dreamings are based on native plants and bush tucker species in their various stages of growth, as well as design elements associated with Women’s Awelye (ceremony/dancing) and Women’s Dreamings. Josie paints in two distinctive styles, aerial bush tucker Dreamings with overlapping dot work and Women’s Dreaming with each row of dots painted in a different colour and the inclusion of iconic women symbols.
Josie’s works are sought after for their unique layering of dots, which creates the illusion of a three dimensional image. Her command of colour and space is highly evident.
Exhibitions:
1999 - Embassy of Australia, Washington D.C.
1999 - Australian Consulate, New York City
1999 - United Nations, New York City
Collections:
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Holmes aCourt Collection, Perth, WA
All works copyright Original & Authentic Aboriginal Art
