Details of Bedford, Paddy 'Kuwumji
About
Nyunkuny, commonly known by his nick name 'Kuwumji' and also by his 'gardiya' name Paddy Bedford, is a Gija law man of Jawalyi skin who was born at Bedford Downs in the East Kimberley. A couple of years before his birth a group of his Kija (Gija) relations had been murdered by strychnine poisoning in retaliation for the killing of one milking cow near Mt King, an emu dreaming place to the west of the homestead. The massacre was organised by the manager of Bedford Downs, Paddy Quilty. People moved out to the government station at Violet Valley but by the time of the artist's birth had been persuaded to return to work at Bedford Downs. When he was born, Paddy Quilty asked "Is it a boy or girl?". "Oh, its a boy. You can call him Paddy after me."
When young he worked as a stockman for the usual tea, flour and tobacco on old Greenvale and Bow River Stations before returning to work on Bedford Downs. He and his family left Bedford Downs and moved to Warmun (Turkey Creek) when Basil Quilty, nephew of Paddy Quilty killed all the camp dogs.
As a senior law man he has been involved in painting as part of ceremony all his life. He began painting on canvas for exhibition after Freddy Timms set up the Jirrawun Aboriginal Art group at Rugan (Crocodile Hole) in 1997 and is represented in several major collections including that of Parliament House in Canberra. His work in the 'Turkey Creek' style with expanses of plain ochre with a few well chosen shapes and sparse lines marked by white dots, depicts the bones of the landscape in which he has spent a life time. His paintings combine important family dreamings such as emu, turkey and cockatoo with roads, rivers, the traditional living areas for traditional life and stock camp life, stock yards and country visited while mustering. His work has been hailed as that of a 'new' Rover Thomas although he was born a few years before him.
During the 2000 Olympics one of his paintings featured on the cover of the United Airlines inflight magazine and he had a sell out show at Martin Browne Gallery in Sydney. Appropriately considering his origins, his work was included in an exhibition titled 'Blood on the Spinifex' at Ian Potter Gallery in Melbourne in 2002. Most recently, Paddy has had a major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2006.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006 Paddy Bedford, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
2005 Paddy Bedford - Heart of Blackness, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2005 Paddy Bedford - Black Note, Short St Gallery, Broome, WA
2004 Paddy Bedford - Rolling the Swag, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2003 Paddy Bedford - Walking the Line, GrantPirrie, Sydney, NSW
2002 Paddy Bedford - Significant Paintings, GrantPirrie, Sydney, NSW
2001 Paddy Bedford, Raft Gallery, Darwin, NT
2000 Paddy Bedford, Chapman Galleries, Canberra, ACT
2000 Paddy Bedford, Martin Browne Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1999 My Country - William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
GROUP EXHBITION
2005 Beyond the Frontier, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2004 2004 National Gallery of Victoria, Talking Abstraction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of NSW College of Fine Arts, Sydney, NSW
2003 Journey to Now - John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia,
Adelaide
2003 True Stories: Art of the East Kimberley, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
2003 Jirrawun Jazz, Raft Artspace, Darwin, NT
2002 Rhapsodies in Country, GrantPirrie at Art Miami, USA
2002 Jirrawun Artists, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2002 Blood on the Spinifex, Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Vic
2001 Four Men, Four Paintings, Raft Gallery, Darwin & Short St Gallery, Broome
2000 Mapping Our Countries, Djamu Gallery, Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW
2000 Land Mark: Mirror Mark: Prints by Aboriginal Artists from the Collection of the Northern
Territory University, Drill Hall Gallery Australian National University and Columbia
State University, USA
2000 Opening 2000, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2000 Gaagembi - Poor Things, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
2000 Christmas Exhibition, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney, NSW
1999 My Country, Northern Territory University Gallery, Darwin, NT
1999 Painting Country, William Mora Galleries, Melbourne, Vic
1999 Jirrawun Artists, Chapman Galleries, Canberra, ACT
1998 Jirrawun Aboriginal Artists, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney, NSW
1998 Jirrawun Artists' Exhibition: Artists from Crocodile Hole, Gemma Stowe, Perth, WA
COMMISSIONS
2004 Musee du Quai Branly, Paris
Bibliography
Backhouse, M. 'Mixed media: French passion for Aboriginal Art' The Age, 20 October, 2004, Section A3 p.8.
Clabburn, A, 'Portent images bear witness to past horrors', The Australian, 20 December 2002. p. 4.
Crawford, A, 'Black light, black heat', The Bulletin, 10 December 2002 pp. 78-9.
Eccles, J. "New Frontiers for Indigenious Art: Jirrawun Arts, East kimberely' Art Monthly Australia. no. 178, 2005, pp. 22-24
Fenner, F, Talking About Abstraction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts, Sydney, 2004
Flanagan, M, 'More than a passing knowledge', The Age, 30 November 1998.
Fire, Fire Burning Bright. Marnem, Marnen, Dililib, Benuwarrnji, Jirrawun Aboriginal Art Corporation, Kununurra, 2002
Georgeff, S, 'Drawing the Line', The Sunday Age, 23 August 1998, p. 16s
Green, C, ed, 2004, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Victoria, 2004
Hemispheres, Unitied Aitlines, September 2000.
Hill, P, 'Natural Affinity', The Sydney Morning Herald,, 19 July 2004, p.8.
Hutchings, P, 'Blackwards into the fire', Australian Art Review, no. 1, 2003, p. 55.
Jopson, D, 'Landscapes in the blood', The Sydney morning Herald, 14-15 December 2002, p. 27.
Ingram, T, 'Red-dot art all round from Kimberely Mob', Australian Financial Review, 31 March 2005, p.45.
Ingram, T, 'A load hue and cry in the indigenious market', Australian Financial Review, 5 June 2004, p.
Kidd, C, 'Low Olympic numbers, high visual energy', the Sydney Morning Herald, 4 october 2000, p. 20.
Koford, F, 'Paddy Bedford' in eds S Kleinert & M Neale, The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 539-40
Low, LA, Indigenious roots with a touch of the blues' the Sydneymorning Herald,3 decemebr 2004, p. 2.
Loxley, A. 'Cultural collision provides some lessons in t he abstract', The Sydney morning Herald, 21 october, 2003.
Maslen, G, 'Changing the vanguard: modern artists colour the corporate worls', The Age 12 July 2003, p. 12.
Meacham, S, 'More nightmare than dreaming', The sydney morning Herald, 8 january 2003, p. 521.
Milliken, R, 'Reconciled to success: the golden age of Aboriginal art', Australian Financial Review, 23 December 2004, p. 24.
Morgan, C 'Menace and Beauty in the tale of dark days', The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 2005, p. 5.
Neill, R 'Cultures reign on the Seine', The Australian, 12 October 2004, p.14.
Nelson, R, 'Aboriginal tribal art tells a hard story', The Age, 18 January 2003, p. 33.
Oliver, T, 'Rhapsodies in country', GrantPirrrie, Sydney, 2002
Oliver, T, M Langton & F Kofod, Blood on the spinifex, Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2002.
Petitjean, G, Significant paintings - Paddy Bedford, Sydney, 2003
Pheasant, B, 'Grim days are lifting for Aboriginal artists', Australian Financial reveiw, 18 july 2003, p.81
Roberts, J, 'Killing feilds of the kimberely', The Culture, The Age, 17 october 2002, p.3.
Ross, H, (ed), 'Impact stories of the East Kimberely', East Kimberely Imapct assesment project, East Kimberely working paper no. 28, Centre for Environment and Natural ressources, Australian National University, Canberra, 1989.
Rothwell, N, 'Beyond the frontier', Sherman Galleries, Sydney, 2005.
Sheil, F, 'Gija painter shares the spirit with whitefellas', The Age, 25 October 2003, p.3.
Taylor, R, 'Blood on the Spinifex', Art Monthly Australia, no. 159, 2003, pp. 28-31.
Watson, K, 'True stories: Art of the East Kimberley', Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2003.
Ross, H. (ed.), Impact Stories of the East Kimberley, East Kimberley Working Paper No
28 CRES ANU, 1989
Georgeff, S., Drawing the Line, The Sunday Age, 23 August, Agenda p 16, 1998
Flanagan, M., More Than a Passing Knowledge, The Age, 30 November, 1998
Kofod, F., Interviews with the artist, Art Collector Magazine, 2000
Artworks of Bedford, Paddy 'Kuwumji
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
Sold
This artist currently has no artworks for sale, please view some recent sold works below.