D’LAN CONTEMPORARY TO PRESENT FIRST NEW YORK SOLO EXHIBITION OF ACCLAIMED AUSTRALIAN FIRST NATIONS ARTIST GUNYBI GANAMBARR
D’LAN CONTEMPORARY TO PRESENT FIRST NEW YORK SOLO EXHIBITION OF
ACCLAIMED AUSTRALIAN FIRST NATIONS ARTIST GUNYBI GANAMBARR
Gunybi Ganambarr, Guṉḏalmirri 2024 (detail), etched aluminum, 250 x 150 cm
Gunybi Ganambarr
Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water
September 19th– November 8th, 2024
Opening Reception: September 19, 6pm-8pm
D’Lan Contemporary New York
25 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021
New York, New York, August 21, 2024 – D’Lan Contemporary is proud to present Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water, the first solo exhibition in New York by acclaimed Australian First Nations artist, Gunybi Ganambarr. The exhibition, which marks the first collaboration between D’Lan Contemporary, Ganambarr, and Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre, will open on September 19 and run through November 8 at D’Lan Contemporary’s East 73rd Street gallery.
Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water will feature 17 recent two- and three-dimensional works in bark and metal that reflect the innovative vision and skill of one of Buku-Larrŋgay’s’s most important and groundbreaking artists.
Highlights include Spring Water Running Through Reeds (2024), which represents the rippling flow of water in the lagoons and freshwater springs in a sacred area close to Arnhem Bay, intricately etched into a discarded steel panel. The mirrored bark and metal works in the exhibition, which reference the bark painting tradition, and the metal work movement of which Ganambarr was the catalyst – represented in Dhalwaŋu Saltwater I and II, Milŋurr Ŋaymil I and II 2024 and Darra II and I (all 2024) – are a central theme in the exhibition alongside the sculptural series of elegantly plasma cut wings of the Gudurrku, or brolga, a large, water-bird native to Australia.
The exhibition will also feature a group of reclaimed satellite dishes into which Gunybi has carved his clan designs, as well as the large scale, etched aluminum composite board Guṉḏalmirri and Ŋaymil font which reflect Gunybi’s sculptural mastery.
Almost immediately after Ganambarr began working as a visual artist in 2001, he was hailed a rising star who has since attracted national and international critical acclaim. In 2009, art critic John McDonald described him as “the brightest new talent in the ranks of indigenous artists.” McDonald later compared Ganambarr’s ability to revolutionize and reinvent his medium to the skill of Picasso.
Ganambarr is a Yolŋu man who lives and works at Gängän, near Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land. He is part of the Duwa moiety and the Nyamil clan, whose ontological and spiritual world is the foundation of his artistic practice. Gunybi spent his early twenties working as a house builder where he acquired the skills to work with many of the materials he now uses in his work.
Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water will coincide with the major touring exhibition, Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting From Yirrkala, on view at the Asia Society in New York September 17, 2024 to January 5, 2025 . Curated and narrated by the Yolŋu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land, the exhibition delves into the history of Yolŋu art practice and provides a context for the work of its leading artist, Gunybi Gunambarr.
Gunybi Ganambarr and other representatives from Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre will be present at the opening of Gapu-Buḏap – Crossing the Water at D’Lan Contemporary New York on Thursday September 19, 6pm-8pm.
About Gunybi Ganambarr
Gunybi Ganambarr is a Yolngu artist who lives and works at Gängän, near Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. He began his artistic career painting on bark and larrakitj but has since extended his practice with an experimental and innovative use of reclaimed materials, which include wood, rubber, glass, steel, galvanized iron and aluminum. Under the tutelage of artists such as Gawirrin Gumana and Yumutjin Wunungmurra from his mother’s Dhaḻwaŋu clan, Ganambarr has assumed ceremonial authority, which also informs and influences his work.
In 2008, Ganambarr won the Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Artist Award at the Gallery of Modern Art at Queensland Art Gallery. In 2011, he also won the West Australian Indigenous Art Award and in 2018, he was awarded the First Prize in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards. His work has been exhibited in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Art Pudong, Qatar Museums and Harvard Art Museums, and is currently featured in the touring exhibition, Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Bark Painting From Yirrkala, which opened in 2022. His work can also be found in institutional collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
About D’Lan Contemporary
D’Lan Contemporary was founded in 2016 by D’Lan Davidson, a leading art consultant and gallerist who has specialized in Australian First Nations art for over 20 years.
The gallery presents regular exhibitions of modern and contemporary art by First Nations artists at its galleries in Melbourne and New York alongside an international program of educational talks and events that foster awareness of and appreciation for the rich art and culture of Australia’s first peoples.
D’Lan Contemporary was recently appointed representative of The Estate of Paddy Bedford and is honored to continue the work of William Mora in celebrating Bedford’s legacy through an international exhibition programme and publication of a book dedicated to works on paper by the celebrated Gija artist.
D’Lan Contemporary maintains strict ethical practices and is committed to generating positive industry change to create a sustainable marketplace for this important segment of Australian art and culture. The gallery contributes 30% of its net profits to communities. dlancontemporary.com.au
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