Module 4 Art Analysis

 

Emily Kame Kngwarreye,  Earth’s Creation , 1994, synthetic polymer paint on linen mounted on canvas, four panels (private collection)

Description

The twenty-foot wide and nine-foot-high painting (1) is incredibly vivid, and the scale alone is monumental. The piece is seen to be covered in bold contrasting colors and deep muddy splotches. Each of the colors seems to be applied onto the canvas with thick, bold strokes. The movement of the artist around the painting can almost be sensed in this abstract expressionist piece.

Analysis and Interpretation

The color palate selected seems to not be limited, but rather, it made use of bold, vibrant colors. The colors she chose almost invoke a sense of tropics or humidity. Even though there is no set form, the piece seems to be inspired by nature, given the title, the artist's history as an aboriginal, and the natural environment she grew up in (1). The blues form pools for the yellows, reds, and greens to sit atop. The greens can be seen sprouting from painting lushly. The reds seem to follow the yellows as a sort of shadow while the yellow itself almost seems to be the highlights. The colors seem to capture the “green time” that follows periods of heavy rain (1).

Kngwatteye’s strokes are formless and therefore more fluid and abstract. There isn’t a specific reference in the painting to vegetation, rocks, or plants but the painting still reads as tropical and earthy. This formlessness of her painting could be due to her history as a ceremonial sand painter which was inspired by her ritual dreaming and her ceremonial body motifs. (1) The bold, heavy, and unblended colors allow for them to stay vibrant and sectioned in their stroke which adds to the abstract components of the painting. Her movement around the canvas can almost be sensed by following each stroke or dot of color added. This freeform movement of her strokes gives an idea into how creative the artist really was as she did not need form or bold lining to paint a very descriptive picture of nature. It also shows the skill level and her understanding of visual elements.

1. Dr. Allison Young, "Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Earth’s Creation," in Smarthistory, February 6, 2016, accessed April 1, 2021, https://smarthistory.org/emily-kame-kngwarreye-earths-creation-2/.